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Snakes, Rats and Your H.R. Policies

26 March, 2014 by James Lawther 3 Comments

Unintended Consequences

Have you heard of the Cobra Effect? In Victorian times, at the height of the British Empire, the governors of Colonial India were very worried about the number of cobras in Delhi — no self-respecting bureaucrat has a liking of venomous snakes. The governors came up with a plan.  They offered a reward for every […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: bad process, cheating, cobra effect, employee performance measures, human nature, incentives, nothing new under the sun, performance management, reinforcing behaviour, systems thinking

Are You in Control?

23 February, 2014 by James Lawther 4 Comments

Bird Brain

Simple Birds It was half term last week. I took my children to North Norfolk. We explored sandy beaches, rolling countryside and panoramic skies.  It was as beautiful. The highlight was a walk across the salt marshes and the sight of a flock of startled geese scurrying across the sky.   How do the birds […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: complexity, incentives, process control, service design, tampering, targets

Are You a Fairy Princess?

2 February, 2014 by James Lawther 9 Comments

Fairy Princess

Remember my daughter? She is five, all blonde curly hair, giggles and she thinks she is a fairy princess. This weekend she went to a birthday party.  A five-year-old girl’s birthday party. It was a fancy dress party with a fairy princess theme — this is called knowing your audience. The local church hall was […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: incentives, management style, motivation, performance management

Bonus Time

30 January, 2014 by James Lawther 11 Comments

It is the best part of the year. You have been performance managed and appraised.  Your year-end rating has been cross calibrated / validated / ranked and stacked.  You have emerged from the annual death match unscathed. Your rating has been moderated to allow for business results.  Senior managers have assessed “the curve” to check it […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: incentives, motivation, performance management, video

4 Ways to Change Behaviour

26 December, 2013 by James Lawther 11 Comments

There are 4 ways to change people’s behaviour: The first is the stick: Beat people until they do what you want. The stick works, but people hate being controlled, they will rebel — sooner or later.  Repression is not a great strategy. The second is the carrot: Provide an incentive.  Incentives work beautifully, until you remove […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement, Tools & Techniques Tagged With: conformity, customer behaviour, group think, human nature, incentives, motivation, political will, reinforcing behaviour, video

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