Ilya Pozin recently had an article in Inc. Magazine entitled 9 Things That Motivate Employees More Than Money. It was brought to my attention because a few of those things are solidly covered by the functionality we provide with DueProps, starting with the first:
1. Be Generous With Praise. Everyone wants it and it’s one of the easiest things to give. [...] Praise every improvement that you see your team members make. Once you’re comfortable delivering praise one-on-one to an employee, try praising them in front of others.
BOOM SHAKA! DueProps is all about fostering continual praise amongst team members. Our props make it fun and interesting to find opportunities to say "thank you" to someone that has put in a worthy effort. The fact that our props are publicized via a shared activity stream means that praise is naturally conveyed to the rest of the team in a constant and visible format.
4. Never criticize or correct. No one, and I mean no one, wants to hear that they did something wrong. If you’re looking for a de-motivator, this is it...
One of the cornerstones of the DueProps philosphy is that it is better to manage people with positive reinforcement only. Negative reinforcement (including criticism) is a minefield better left unnavigated, especially when trying to manage creative and technical talent that can easily find other work. Instead, use DueProps to constantly give recognition to desired behaviors and use the absence of praise as an opportunity to discuss opportunities for better outcomes.
5. Make everyone a leader. Highlight your top performers’ strengths and let them know that because of their excellence, you want them to be the example for others. You’ll set the bar high and they’ll be motivated to live up to their reputation as a leader.
Functionality we're cooking up right now is going to allow you to see who is tops at particular types of props. Which means that if you're using DueProps, you'll have hard evidence on who are the top Speed Demon or Awesome Blogger or Sweetness superstars in your organization. You can use that data to heap offline praise or actual rewards on the people who you want to emphasize as leaders as well as those that you have proof as being worthy of being examples to others.
7. Give recognition and small rewards. These two things come in many forms: Give a shout out to someone in a company meeting for what she has accomplished. Run contests or internal games and keep track of the results on a whiteboard that everyone can see. Tangible awards that don’t break the bank can work too. Try things like dinner, trophies, spa services, and plaques.
Sometimes it's hard to remember to give shout outs and spot recognition, simply because it's yet another thing to remember in addition to everything else. The great thing about DueProps is that it's a system that once implemented, becomes part of the everyday culture of your company. So it's not hard to remember to give recognition and small rewards, because it's just there and everyone already is using it.
9. Share the rewards—and the pain. When your company does well, celebrate. This is the best time to let everyone know that you’re thankful for their hard work. Go out of your way to show how far you will go when people help your company succeed. If there are disappointments, share those too. If you expect high performance, your team deserves to know where the company stands. Be honest and transparent.
This point is the most significant for us as far as unique functionality that no other recognition platform offers. As a DueProps admin, we expect you to set a bonus pool amount that is shared fairly amongst the users of the system at the end of every bonus period. It's up to you when to close out bonus periods, although we suggest that you make them monthly.
Since the amount of the bonus pool budget is arbitrary, you can vary it up and down depending on your business circumstances. Had a really good month? Bump the pool up by a few thousand dollars and really show your team that you appreciate how they worked together to achieve success. Our roadmap includes the ability to automate addition and subtraction of bonus pool money based on company goals, and the ability to vary the amount of bonus budget allotted on a per-team basis.