It’s a best practice of countless companies and a recommendation from even more consultants, advisors and the like. Identify the key metrics for success in your business, measure them and incentivize your team to hit or exceed those metrics with a reward, usually monetary. Pay for performance. The trouble though with typical pay for performance programs is that they only measure and incentivize outcomes. Sales quotas are a classic example. New revenue is measured and if a salesperson meets or exceeds their revenue quota, they get a reward. The measurement and reward system can be simple or complex, but ultimately it comes down to measuring and incentivizing specific outcomes. The challenge is that this system inevitably create a culture where the end begins to justify the means. The most cunning and sometimes least scrupulous employees get rewarded more than the most admirable and desirable employees since the former are willing to…

Compromising has a pleasant connotation in most people’s mind. When compromises are reached, we assume parties with differing opinions made concessions and settled in the middle. It is the civil and selfless way to resolve disagreements. We applaud and pursue it. But should we? Few talk about the unhealthy side effect that develops in environments where compromise reigns. The problem with routine compromise is that people naturally evolve toward advocating extreme positions. You learn that a decision or outcome will always settle out somewhere in the middle of the two positions argued. To adapt and compete, each side advocates a more and more extreme position to ensure the compromise either remains in the middle or more closely aligns with the desired outcome. It is a game we learn to play and play well, but it is subtlety destructive. Consider everyday politics. Politicians and parties are locked in a tug of war,…

If you owned a coffee shop, you would have your team try the coffee. Not once, but everyday. The daily sip would help them correct problems quickly and be familiar with what the customer was experiencing. If your organization provides tangible goods and services to customers, it is easy to try the coffee. Far too many organizations ignore this simple routine, but it can be done with little cost or effort. What about all the intangible customer experiences such as interactions with your team that reveal an organization’s attitude, vision and values? How does your team get a taste of the intangibles everyday to make quick corrections and be familiar with the customer experience? This is where effective leadership come in. This is where culture makes a tremendous difference. An organization must find ways to parallel internally the intangible experiences they aspire for their customers to experience externally. If you…