From Financial incentives can spur us to success—up to a point.

When the stakes get too high, performance can suffer, according to a new paper from researchers at California Institute of Technology. By studying brain-scan data of volunteers performing a basic motor task (controlling an object on a screen) for money, the Caltech team found that once the incentive for successfully completing the task hit a certain threshold, the brain's reward center began to shut down, a response tied to loss aversion.

READ THE REST OF THE SUMMARY FROM THE WSJ:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304371504577406413713371208.html

We have found that paying around 1% to 1.5% of pay as incentives is the “Goldilocks” number and that paying 3% or more does not produce additional results.

This study shows what can happen when activities become learned and the incentive no longer is effective or participants become risk averse.  One easy way to re-engage your employees is to include “random intermittent reinforcement” (brief games of chance producing a random number of points) within an incentive program.

Summary of study: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120509140003.htm

Copies of the study can be purchased here: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627312002887

http://www.offcenterinsight.com/2/post/2012/05/contact-centerfold-of-the-month-may-2012-callogix.html

For those unfamiliar with the concept of “the power of small wins,” it is discussed in the Harvard Business Review article, “The Power of Small Wins” by Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CONNECTIONS MAGAZINE: http://www.connectionsmagazine.com/articles/2012/reduce-new-agent-turnover.html

Here’s a heartwarming story about the human spirit that you may find hard to believe. I promise you it is true!

I have seen many management fads come and go in my 40-year career as a human resource manager for PepsiCo and Texas Instruments and as a professor of management at Southern Methodist University and the University of Wyoming.  My corporate experience has always led me to question whether or not this or that “flavor of the month” can actually have a meaningful application in the real world, while my academic background has trained me to be skeptical of everything. Peer-to-peer recognition is one of the newer management trends I have been hearing about, and I admit to a dash of dubiousness.  Then something happened that rocked my world.

Read the complete article: HERE

Excerpt from article.....

Companies are trying to bring more play to the workday.

Striving to make everyday business tasks more engaging, a growing number of firms, including International Business Machines Corp. and consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd., are incorporating elements of videogames into the workplace.

They're deploying reward and competitive tactics commonly found in the gaming world to make tasks such as management training, data entry and brainstorming seem less like work. Employees receive points or badges for completing jobs or meeting time limits for assignments, for example. Companies also may use leaderboards, which let players view one another's scores, to encourage friendly competition and motivate performance, experts say.

 Continue reading the article: HERE