6 rules for promotions

From the translator. The question of whether it is necessary to give bonuses, bonuses and other buns is quite acute in many organizations. I would like to present 6 tips on this topic from Jurgen Appelo, the author of the book Management 3.0. Jurgen ranks 6th in the ranking of the most influential people in Agile (agile development), and his blog is recognized as the third most popular blog in the Agile world. Jurgen's approach is very entertaining and, most importantly, rational. “Your career is your responsibility. Your employer is not your mother, ”says Jürgen.

As I wrote earlier, the distribution of awards to employees is most often realized through bonuses. A counterproductive method that (usually) does more harm than good.

Fortunately, there is good news. There are rewards that encourage intrinsic motivation, are more efficient and are much cheaper economically. Such a reward can work for your organization, not against it. Just make sure you consider the following six rules:

Do not promise reward in advance.
Distribute rewards when people do not expect them, so that they do not change their behavior and do not begin to change their work in order to receive an award. When recognition of good work comes as a surprise, research says, intrinsic motivation will not be undermined.
Make the expected promotion small.
If you can't stop people from anticipating potential profits, make the reward small (and make sure they know that it is small). WHY?! Because waiting for a big reward is likely to lower people's productivity. This may occur because the stress of waiting for encouragement will interfere with people's memory.
Regular, not a one-time reward.
Every day can be a day to celebrate something. When people do useful work all the time, there is always the opportunity to earn a reward.
Reward publicly, not privately.
Since promotion is recognition of good work, and people enjoy it, everyone should understand what a person is rewarded for and how. Therefore, regular public announcement of results works better than annual, but private.
Encourage behavior, not outcome.
The result is often just a label, while the behavior of a person speaks about work and effort. Thus, focus on the right behavior of people to show what you want from people. When you focus on the desired outcome, people can learn to cheat.
Reward equal, not subordinates.
Find a way for people to reward each other because colleagues often know better than managers who deserve encouragement from their colleagues.
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These six rules for rewards give you more chances to increase productivity and the interaction of people, while there is a promotion of intrinsic motivation, rather than its destruction. In my experience, a casual compliment during a meeting for a job well done satisfies all six criteria.

It is not so difficult to make the reward system work in your organization. And if you do it well, everyone will enjoy it.