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Punishment by Reality
by Ken Embley, CPPA
My colleague, Janice Houston, points out that a number of well-intended
people made great efforts to realize the promise of sales tax ideals. What is the reward for their valiant efforts—punishment
by reality.
The topic of this article is—public sector incentive programs. How many times have we experienced well-intended
and valiant efforts to devise an incentive program for public employees where
the reward for doing so is—punishment by reality? Do recent changes in the State of Utah sick leave policy or
proposed changes to the Jordan School District retirement policy come to
mind? Well, if the topic of public
sector incentives is of interest to you, you may be interested in what the grandpas
of the world have to say about incentives.
When I am out visiting public agencies, I hear employees
complain about the lack of incentives and I hear well-intended managers discuss
valiant efforts to provide incentives.
On one occasion, a particular manager boasted of the monies set aside
for incentives and in the same breath, complained about ungrateful
employees—ah, the valiant effort of a well-intended person whose reward is—punishment
by reality.
Can you provide your public employees with incentives—with expectations
of reward that induces action or motivates effort (Dictionary.com/incentives)? The simple answer is yes! The realistic answer is maybe!
A fundamental problem with incentives is that, by
definition, an incentive is an act of manipulation (expectations of reward that
induces action or motivates effort).
Alfie Kohn is the author of Punished
by Rewards / the Trouble with Gold Stars, A’s, Praise, and other Bribes. In his book, Mr. Kohn makes the point that any
person who manipulates another will eventually pay a heavy price for that
manipulation.
Therefore, if you want incentives, the first thing you must
do is ensure that a common understanding of the means and methods of
manipulation is in place and that all involved respect and value the process. Here is where the grandpas of the world come
into play. A long time ago the grandpas
of the world learned to say, “I have some candy for the little ones who can
give me the biggest and best hugs and kisses.”
In this case, the grandpas and grandkids both have a common
understanding of the hugs and kiss game and both like the game. Collectively, they are manipulating the heck
out of each other but both love it. The
lesson, be like the grandpas of the world—where everyone understands, and all involved
respect and value the incentive process.
Now, if you want incentives, the second thing you must do is
ensure that you have a reliable means to deliver the desired reward. There are actually two things that you must
do. When I say, “a reliable means to
deliver,” it means having on-going resources to ensure delivery (usually a
budget) and when I say “a desired reward,” it means the recipient needs to value
the reward. Always remember, management
can offer new and exciting rewards, but management cannot take those same
rewards away from recipients, Mr. Kohn predicts, without paying a heavy price
for the manipulation. You see, grandpas
have it easy. Grandpas have what seems
to be a reliable source of candy that grandkids love. The lesson, be like the grandpas of the world—have a
reliable means to deliver a desired reward.
Finally, if you want incentives, recipients must see the measures
of successful achievement as being fair and equitable. The question is—how will you determine who
gets the reward and will those involved see your method of determination as
being fair and equitable? Again,
grandpas have this down pat. Grandpas
know the difference between a good hug and a bad hug and they know what good
kisses are, and they have lots of fun, and so do the kids, working together to
achieve the measures of success. If you
want incentives, you need to be like the grandpas in the world where everyone
involved can recognize measures of success and everyone involved knows they can
achieve the measures of success and together, all involved relish in the
success of every member. The lesson, be
like the grandpas of the world—be sure the measures of successful
achievement are fair and equitable.
Can your organization benefit by creating a public employees
incentive program? The answer is yes—as
long as you can be like the grandpas in this world.
However, incentive programs require that you address and
solve each of the three issues. If you
cannot do that, your well-intended and valiant efforts will likely be in vain. Even the grandpas of the world, who are well
intended and make valiant efforts, have trouble over time. All it takes is for the grandkids to get a
little older. When this happens, the
ability to comply with the three issues becomes more and more difficult and
even we grandpas begin to experience—punishment by reality.
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