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Reduce production bottlenecks, improve quality and deliver to customer deadline by improving the performance of the people who keep the wheels of your business turning.
When improving operational performance becomes a business imperative, you need to shift employee mindsets from 'business as usual' to 'working for results'. To make that happen, give them a clear line of sight to broader objectives, engage commitment to the goals, motivate change and reward achievements.
Incentives are no 'plug and play' solution to solving your operational performance problems, but do give you a structured, targeted tool for driving specific, measurable results. Effective incentive programs follow these fundamentals:
Clear objectives
Objectives are the goals that you want your incentive program to achieve. Usually, there are one or two primary objectives which address your high-priority operational needs - reducing production bottlenecks to improve customer delivery for example - and one or two secondary objectives. The secondary objectives are typically 'softer' goals that support the primary operational improvement objectives. In this case, reducing bottlenecks will most likely improve morale along the production line. Keep your performance objectives simple and make sure all your participants understand what they're aiming for and know what's expected of them.
Measurable objectives
This obvious point is worth emphasising, because no matter how hard you work at defining your operational performance objectives, if you can't measure them, there's little point in running an incentive. Reducing accident claims by 20% over a 6-month period is a straight forward goal. Simple, accurate measurement systems keep your program valid, and on track. Overly complex measures are often difficult to administer and analyse.
Regular participant communications
Regular communication with your participants lets them know how they're doing and how they can improve their performance even more. Communications can be print, electronic or even telephonic, depending upon your audience, but to help motivate participation and performance, they've got to be accurate, consistent and a timely follow-up to the most recent results.
The right rewards
Select a mix of rewards that are in line with the performance goals you've set and that are inspiring to your audience. If you're looking for zero product defects per month, 'what's in it for me?' is what your production line workers want to know. If participants can see a direct link between their performance and the award opportunities it generates, they'll be that much more motivated to meet their goals. But the reward has got to be worth the extra effort.
Recognise performance
Whether you stage a year-end award ceremony or publish a note of congratulations in the company newsletter, build a recognition component into your incentive program. Public recognition of success reinforces the pride of individual achievement, encourages repeat performance and helps nurture a high performance culture.
