In colonial India, residents were plagued by cobra bites. The British government instituted a program which incentivized the killing of cobras. A reward was paid for each dead one turned in. The program worked very well for a while. Soon however, the government found that some enterprising Indians were breeding cobras solely for the purpose of turning them in for a reward. They cancelled the program which meant the breeders, not having any use for the cobras, turned them all back into the wild. A bad situation made much worse by setting up a reward system that encourages gaming the system.
Reward systems, incentive programs, and pay-for-performance initiatives all seem like good ideas. As companies and organizations ponder reopening strategies, you can bet that there will be lots of ideas to get people motivated and engaged. If you find yourself in a position tasked with developing programs like this, please consider the following suggestions:
- Don’t make the solutions more expensive than the problem. Think about the cost of your problem. Be sure to factor in real cost, opportunity cost (the cost of what you’re NOT able to do with the current problem), and the emotional and mental cost of the problem. Be sure your solution doesn’t cost more than your problem.
- Try the pre-mortem approach. A post-mortem Is done to determine cause of death. The deceased gets no benefit from this. A pre-mortem is different. It begins with the assumption that your initiative failed. Then, brainstorm what went wrong. This is the perfect opportunity to round up your most whiney, negative employees and put them to work! You might discover flaws in your program before it even starts.
- Don’t assume everyone will play by the rules. Just like the cobra breeders in India, there will always be some folks who see an opportunity to game the system. During your pre-mortem, think about how this might happen.
- Realize that all incentive programs have a shelf life. No matter how good a program is, it eventually runs out of steam. Think about what signs you’ll need to see to put an end to the program when it outlives its usefulness.
COVID-19, and 2020 for that matter has served us all a big helping of ambiguity and uncertainty. Getting through this year and beyond will require new ways of thinking and in most cases, no ideas will be dismissed initially. Use this opportunity to make good choices as you work to get your organization back in business. Be sure your program doesn’t have unintended consequences that will cause more problems. And of course never forget about the cobra problem. Use some critical thinking and be patient before running full speed into an incentive program.