7 Steps to Safety Incentive Success
For one thing, involve employees in setting goals. If participants are involved in setting their own targets, they'll often set the bar higher than management would.
COMPANIES all over the world are being challenged to do more with less, gain a competitive advantage by maximizing the effectiveness of their employees, and boost productivity in their operations--none of which is an easy task to accomplish. Although there's no silver bullet to magically attain these noble goals, there is a proven methodology for achieving just that in your safety incentive programs.
Now, more than any other time in recent history, the business world is not only focused on "what have you done for me lately," but on what are you going to do for me tomorrow. Organizations unable to maintain world-class growth rates are finding themselves at the mercy of skittish investors and unforgiving stock markets . . . and YOU don't want to be one of those companies! Fortunately, well-structured incentive and recognition programs are highly effective methods for improving safety and operational performance. We're going to review how you can ensure that your incentive programs are designed for success and driving the goals and results that are the most vital to your organization. Equally important, we'll review how to avoid the pitfalls that can derail your program.
Unfortunately, many businesses are still taking a rather casual approach to motivation and strategy. For an incentive program to be strategic, it must be linked to business strategy and should change to reflect changes in that strategy when they occur. Yet often this is not the case, and some safety programs continue to be operated under outdated goals left over from the program's inception.
I'd like to introduce you to a seven-step process I call the Success Formula. Each step will help you achieve success when developing an incentive or recognition program, and I'll warn you right up front that problems arise when you try to cut out a step or shortcut elements within a step. The up-front effort pays off handsomely in your end results! Likewise, cutting corners cuts into your success dramatically.
Step 1: Strategic Planning
Think of your safety program as a form of target marketing, addressing specific objectives with a specific strategy and set of tactics that will provide you with measurable results. Why are you conducting the program, and what precisely are you trying to accomplish? What's a reasonable improvement to expect? State your goals in the most specific terms possible.
The second part of your pre-program planning is identifying what's most critical to achieving success. Essentially, start backward from your desired results. It's important to identify the attributes, skills, and knowledge that employees will need to have in order to get those results.
This exercise is easier when you think of this in terms of your top performers. What behaviors do they have? What are their triggers? What makes them successful? After all, it's focusing and directing those behaviors that are going to get you the results you're seeking.
Which brings us to another critical point: Understand your audience. Whom are you targeting, how can they impact the goal, and what are their demographics, motivations, circumstances, capabilities, and buy-in? What are they willing to do, and what are they able to do? Be certain your program includes all stakeholders in the achievement of a goal (e.g., warehouse workers and warehouse administrative support). If you don't include everyone who can influence the goal, you may have disgruntled employees who will try to sabotage the results for the program participants.
A common pitfall to be avoided is that many incentive programs simply reward the top 10-20 percent of individuals doing a job well. The issue here is that the top 10-20 percent probably will achieve the results anyway because it's in their nature as top performers. On the other hand, the bottom 10-20 percent of performers are unlikely to change, regardless of the reward. The key is to look for ways to move the middle part of the bell curve--those individuals who, with the proper communications, training, and incentives, can improve and can achieve stronger performance results. It's about moving that middle 60-80 percent of your employees toward enhanced productivity and performance by focusing and directing their efforts. That's where you will see the greatest impact in results, if for no other reason than the sheer size of the group.
Step 2: Alignment
In Step 2 you'll turn your focus to where you are now, where you want to be, and what it's going to take to get you where you want to be. You're going to drive your results by aligning your employees with the identified behaviors and activities that will get you there. Draw a direct link between what each individual can do differently in his/her job in order to contribute to the program's strategic goals.
You also need to contemplate the obstacles you'll face: What currently stands in the way of achieving the goals--market conditions, training levels, management problems? What actions, if eliminated or repeated more often or more effectively, will yield the desired results? Your program will have to address these obstacles, or it's likely to fail no matter how desirable the awards.
This article originally appeared in the September 2007 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.