Incentives Inc.'s Ley Borlo and ChipRewards Inc.'s Joshua Klapow discuss incentives.Borlo: Should choice be a prime consideration in determining the type of award system for use in an incentive or recognition program? If so, who should define the choices: the company or the participant?
Klapow: Choice is straightforward from a scientific perspective. If awards or incentives are being given to drive behavior, then they must be meaningful to the recipient. There is simply no way around this.
Without a doubt, the most powerful method for coming up with meaningful awards and incentives is to let the individual choose. Every time weas program developerschoose reinforcers, we run the risk of choosing incorrectly.
Borlo: I've read that too much choice can be demotivational. I find this interesting, because I have experienced just the opposite. Do you feel that there can be such a thing as too much choice?
Klapow: Let's go back to the scientific underpinnings of this question. Individuals can become overwhelmed by too many options, but not within the context of prizes or rewards. Offering a universe of choices when it comes to rewards allows the program developers to hedge their bets on what individuals deem meaningful. Remember that meaningfulness is not a static concept. What is meaningful to me now may not be tomorrow. Our needs, wants, and desires change over time and with circumstance. So while we may offer a million choices, the individual may only find 100 of them meaningful.
While we may be forced to limit options because of costs or logistics, whenever we limit options we increase the chance that what we offer will not be perceived as meaningful. And when it is not, behaviors will not be modified.
Borlo: Many companies have tried to develop award systems specifically for the demographic they are trying to motivate. In my experience, this is virtually impossible. How important is it to try to match the awards to the participants? Would the client be better off having a system with unlimited choice?
Klapow: If we have the ability to match the demographic as well as the individual perceptions and current social circumstances of the individuals to the awards, then our programs should have an impact. Still, matching awards and participants based on age, gender, and socioeconomic status is not necessarily going to work. Two people of the same age, gender, race, and economic status may have two very different ideas of what is meaningful. So it goes back to the fundamental notion that when awards are predetermined, we risk getting it wrong.
Ley Borlo is a partner at Incentives Inc. and developed www.awardemployees.com.Joshua C. Klapow is a clinical psychologist as well as the chief strategy officer and chief behavioral scientist for ChipRewards Inc., a consumer health incentive company.Originally published Nov. 1, 2009For more ideas, tips, and tools for better meetings and events,
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