The Counter Intuitive Way to Reward People

June 23, 2015

I was teaching a high-end mastermind of entrepreneurs and the subject of bonuses and raises came up.

After much discussion, we all came to one surprising solution…

Keep it random.

Certain things should be entitlements. People are entitled to a salary. People are entitled to benefits. But when I see companies give bonuses every year, or create a profit sharing model, then suddenly people feel very entitled to getting more and more.

The company’s financial success is not guaranteed every year. So why should bonuses be guaranteed? And not everyone is a partner in the company, so why should everyone be receiving profits?

What I have seen work is to vary the percentages, frequency and even format of rewards.

Why does it have to be money? What if it’s in the form of a group trip or vacation? What if you rewarded people with the growth and learning they’ve been wanting for themselves?

The best cultures learn what make people tick. They learn their dreams, and they learn about how each person wants to progress (in many ways beyond money). And they record and share the resulting stories.

As with all culture hacking, this takes experimentation. Let me know what you discover.