Incentives and Recognition – Passive Aggressive Performance Management

Normally – passive aggressive is a negative.  We have heard people say “so and so is passive-aggressive.”  It is not a compliment – believe me.  

Nevertheless, I’ll say this – if you want to drive behavior in an organization and you want to reinforce a culture – passive-aggressive is the way to go.  I don’t’ mean this in the pure psychological sense but hear me out… 

Incentives – The Aggressive Part of the Equation

Incentive programs are very aggressive – do this get that. They are specific and they are easily understood.  There is no subtext to an incentive program (if it is done right.)  Everyone knows the rules, the regulations the rewards.  Typically, incentive programs focus on few objectives within a specific time frame.  They are sharp, to the point, no interpretation.  Incentives are about doing something now.  Incentives are “in the moment.”

It is the ultimate “Vulcan” design.  Logic without emotion.  Facts over fables.  Either you hit the number, do the behavior, tote that bale – or you don’t.  Incentive programs have no soul.

Recognition is Passive

Recognition on the other hand is a bit more passive.  Recognition programs reward behaviors after the fact – no promises.  Recognition initiatives highlight the cultural norms of the organization and provide signposts and boundaries for a very wide swath of behaviors.  Recognition is more open and forgiving.  Many things can fall into a recognition initiative.  They can have multiple areas of focus and can cover a very wide number of employees (all of them if designed right.)  Their timing is timeless.  No start and stop dates.

Recognition initiatives are more prone to interpretation (which can make them very dangerous if done incorrectly.)  The qualities recognized can vary widely between individuals and between behaviors.  A multitude of behaviors can be recognized even if they are focused on a common theme.  Think of customer service – there isn’t one behavior, or even a limited number of behaviors, that go into customer service.  In a recognition program, you have the ability to highlight and reward huge numbers of activities the drive that cultural norm.  There is wiggle room.  Recognition is about the long-haul.  Recognition is about the big picture – long-term stuff.

Recognition is the ultimate “human” program.  Recognition programs are all soul.

Too Much Aggressive or Too Much Passive = Too Little Results

I've seen companies focus too heavily on incentives and create a mercenary workforce – people waiting for the next incentive before doing anything.  I’ve seen other companies who rely so heavily on recognition the people can't react quick enough and miss opportunities to change when the market demanded it.  

Great performance management takes into account the passive and the aggressive.

Performance Management is Marketing

It’s a lot like marketing in general.  

Direct mail = aggressive.  

Corporate branding standards = passive.  

You wouldn’t run a marketing strategy with only one marketing tool.  Too much direct mail promotion and you convince your customers to wait for the next deal.  Too much “branding” and you risk losing business to those that offer a special price promotion.  You need both in your marketing mix.

Take stock of your current performance management tool set.  

Are you relying too much on incentives to drive behaviors?  Or do you have too much recognition (yes you can have too much – especially when all you have is recognition)?

Balancing the passive and the aggressive – the Human and the Vulcan – that’s the proper way to drive behavior and create engagement.

So go out there and do some passive-aggressive work today!