I saw someone on Facebook say:
“Nothing will destroy a great employee faster than watching your employer tolerate and reward the bad ones.” I’m not going to link to that post because it is a friend of a friend, and I don’t know her.
But I certainly know the sentiment. Destroy an employee is putting it lightly. I think if you tolerate and/or reward bad employees you will destroy a culture. I’ve seen in this too many times in the companies I’ve worked in. Usually this happens because the manager is too busy with other things, and one day they’ll get to the problem employee. It’s easier to take care of other things than it is to go into a confrontational situation.
Unfortunately, the “reward” is sometimes promotions. I’ve seen plenty of bad bosses in the places I’ve worked or consulted at. People who are doing things against the company culture, but they are such a valued employee that they get away with it. What kind of message does this send to the rest of the employees?
George Orwell said, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” This is a formula to erode trust in leadership. When some people don’t have to abide by the rules or norms but others are monitored closely.
Strong leadership means that we need to have a team that is in harmony with the rules, policies, procedures, and culture that you have created. If you allow people to go against any of those you are sending a message that those rules, policies, procedures, and culture really don’t matter. More lip service, like the company mission statement or vision statement that we abide by… sometimes.
Building culture is not easy. Neither is creating a real, impacting, and appropriate rewards system. It isn’t hard to put a spreadsheet together to track points, rewards, and prizes. But it’s pretty easy to put a system in place that backfires. An incentives program that backfires can lead to lack of trust and motivation. That means a failed program doesn’t just impact the failed program, but the leadership and management team will need to work harder to gain trust back on any of their systems and programs.
Snowfly has been in the incentives and rewards business for a long time. Whether you operate a call center, a sales team, a restaurant or a factory, give us a call. We’d love to talk about your incentives systems. We work with white collar and blue collar, from desk jobs to people who stand on their feet or are on the road all day long. If there are metrics you keep track of, we can use those to create a great incentive program. If you don’t track metrics, we can help you figure out what you could, and should track.
We’re ready… are you?
