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Summary: The author contends that most organizations reward wrong things. He offers a four step process for turning wrong rewards into right results.
Boost Your Leadership Skills Simply By Answering The Question, "What Does Our Organization Really Reward?" By Brent Filson
The difference between leaders is ears. Good leaders not only ask good questions, but they actually listen to answers.
Ask people in your organization: "What does our organization REALLY reward?" Listening to answer may help you achieve marked increased in results.
Rewards and punishments make up drive shaft of any organization. But my experience of working with thousands of leader during past 21 years reveals that most of their organizations reward wrong things.
Such organizations may pay lip service to rewarding people for what is viewed as right things: getting results, getting right results, getting right results in right ways. But what they may really reward, often in terms of promotions and job perks, are such things as care and feeding of top leaders' egos, political conniving, tyrannical leadership ....
Here is a way to transform wrong rewards into right results.
(1) Ask people in your organization what your organization REALLY rewards. The answers may surprise you. But don't get caught up in those answers. Don't make value judgments. At this stage, you are just an observer. Simply compile list.
(2) Gauge each item on list against results your organization really needs. Does it help get results? Does it detract from results?
Do it this way: Pick out a single item from your list. Describe problem in item and identify who controls its solution. Execute a "stop-start-continue" process. What reward do you stop, what do you start, and what do you continue?
You'll get results, but don't expect overnight success. Not only are many of these wrong rewards ingrained habits but changing them seldom achieves quick results. Still, keep asking, What does my organization really reward? In long run, when tackling challenges that comes with listening to answers, you'll be getting more results as well as sharpening your leadership skills.
(3) Ask, "What does your leadership really reward?" When your leadership rewards wrong things, you're getting a fraction of results you're capable of. However, since we see faults of others more clearly than our own, it may be more difficult identifying and dealing with your own issues rather than your organization's.
Do a 360 degree assessment. Select a single item from list and apply start-stop-continue process. Don't simply eliminate item. Such items can be grist for results mill. Identify problem in item then have solution be a tool that gets results.
