KEEP YOUR SYSTEM SIMPLE

It’s important not to overcomplicate your system of goals and rewards. In one of my early ventures, I created a chart that had 18 different targets to hit and a simple “REWARD” written across the top. My employees were unclear as to what the priorities were and what the reward would be. Since then, I have found it’s best to have three or four target goals to hit, with a very specific reward at the end. The goals we typically fail to achieve are the ones that are complex and unclear.

Employees should also feel free to devise their own systems (within reason, of course). My son and his friends came up with their own motivating reward. They had a Burger King crown they kept in the office. They were all highly competitive, and they would have contests to see which one could create the most web links on a given day. The winner then got to wear the crown. The reward didn’t cost me anything, and it was fun to see these 17-year-old boys engage in an all-out push to optimize their websites just for the reward of wearing a paper crown.

One of the benefits of having a team set its own goals and rewards is that the members learn to govern their own behavior. That way I don’t have to micromanage my teams.