For those o
f you who have read the book I’ll Eat This Cricket For a Cricket Badge, you will totally get this blog. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. Don’t worry, it’s extremely short. One of the main ideas is that “people will exhibit extraordinary behavior for rewards”. The story’s main character tells a tale about being a kid on the playground. One of his friends dares him to eat a cricket, and initially he won’t. But his friend tells him that if he eats it, he will be King of the Crickets, so he goes for it.
You are probably thinking, those are kids, kids do all kinds of stupid stuff, right? Before you get too caught up in kids doing stupid stuff, please note that there is actually a wealth of research supporting the statement that people (as in adult people) will do just about anything to attain status. As Steele and Chung write in their book, “status – and designations that are technically meaningless – are incredibly powerful when they hold value within our specific community of like-minded people”.
To some, status is all about symbols: a designer wardrobe, expensive cars and the latest tech device. It’s a way of distinguishing themselves. But status doesn’t always revolve around material things; it can also be attained through public recognition. It’s the reason we take pride in our titles, whether it’s a top sales recognition, or a position as manager, boss, mother, father or friend. Our status tells us and others where we stand in the world.
Let’s rein this back in a bit, since this is an HR blog. This is about how you can use a greater understanding of status to help you motivate people (as in employees). We don’t necessarily want to go back to giving out silver and gold stars because they lose their power after elementary school but, the principle still stands.
The basic strategy, is to identify behaviors that you want to encourage and incentivize them, but not with money, at least not directly. The weird part here is that attaching monetary rewards to this process can actually undermine it. It turns out when you assign a dollar amount to a goal; you cheapen the status attached to achieving that goal, for example a one off payment like a bonus or a gift card. A better strategy would be to offer public recognition with some sort of physical manifestation, which may or may not be linked to career progression.
Next time you have a staff meeting choose one person and recognize their achievement by awarding them a certificate, plaque or a small trophy that they can be displayed on their desk. At review time, you get your own bonus points if you keep a tally of each person’s recognitions and take them into account as you talk about their career progression and pay increases.
Speaking of bonus points, if you tailor your recognition program to be social it can have even more impact. Yes, I am advocating for a little bit of peer pressure. Exactly how the recognition program functions within your company will depend heavily on your business culture. If you aren’t sure how something like this would work for you, we would be happy to help. For friendly help with these types of situations or any other type of questions, please feel free to call us at 913.940.5391 or email us at info@hr-haven.com. We’ll help you through it all.