The Steps to Success
Hinda’s president, Mike Donnelly, has been in the industry long enough to know that various factors must come into play to ensure that an organization is truly successful. When the IRF asked him to pinpoint the most significant elements for an effective rewards program design, he explained how three aspects stand out above the rest. Read on to learn more about the elements that determine if a rewards program can succeed.
When the IRF asked me about the most important elements of an effective reward program design, I began reflecting upon the most successful programs I had seen over the years. For me, a successful incentive, loyalty or recognition program must achieve both the organization’s goals and inspire the target participants. Some common elements immediately jump out to me in three very specific areas.
Goal-Setting
Implementation Planning
Rewards Strategy
Each of these three areas is equally important in the overall program design, and all must be carefully considered as critical elements to the program’s success.
Goal-setting begins the process of designing an effective program. But without an effective implementation plan and rewards strategy, setting goals is simply a planning exercise. An effective process results in meaningful, measurable and movable goals. Meaningful because they are important and considered fair by the people you want to engage. Measurable and movable means the person you’re asking to achieve those goals can impact them and objectively see where they stand.
The implementation plan consists of the activities that keep the program moving forward and engaging the target participants. I find truly effective implementation plans answer these participant questions:
What do you want me to do and why?
How do I do it?
How am I doing?
What’s in it for me?
Combining communications, training, tracking, feedback and rewards are how we answer these and encourage people to take the right actions to achieve the goals of the program.
A rewards strategy should be designed with a focus on the participants. Exceptional programs offer an inspiring awards selection by creating ease, choice and value. That means making it easy for your participants to understand and redeem. Engaging programs offer a wide selection of choices to appeal to the different individuals, demographic segments, and the various interests and tastes of the people who make your target participants. Finally, the rewards in these exceptional programs offer a value from the perspective of the program participants. The value may be saving time or providing the quality brand-names they desire or allowing them to indulge themselves with something they may not buy for themselves.
The most effective programs I have seen in the last 30 years have three things in common: clear and compelling goals, a detailed implementation plan to show people how to succeed and an inspiring rewards selection designed to engage participants. Programs with all of these exceed even the most ambitious expectations of their sponsors because they are designed to mobilize the people most important to their business.