To be motivational, reward and recognition must be appropriate in the eye of the receiver. Tickets for the big game are fine if you enjoy sport. If you don't enjoy sport but you would like the value of the tickets to spend on something else... read more

As she rushed through the office, Kacy Dillon, the divisional Director stopped briefly by Ian Brechin's desk, gave him the "thumbs-up" sign and said "Great job, Brechin, you did well!" She then sped off in the direction of her next meeting leaving... read more

Mike Foley was a physicist of great talent. He had a string of qualifications to his name and had conducted world-renowned research in his post-graduate studies. He was now working on ground-breaking product ideas for the electronics industry... read more

Like most managers, Brian Reynolds believed that his team had its strengths and its weaknesses. When asked in an employee satisfaction survey "Do you recognize good performance in your team?" he answered with a resounding "Of course I do!" ... read more

Louise Erdmann felt like Gwyneth Paltrow at the Oscar ceremony. She had only been with her current company for a few months but here she stood, at the Christmas Party, receiving a reward for being the "Best Newcomer of the Year" and fighting back... read more

In his job as an accountant, Anthony Stirling felt that the monetary rewards for his job were as good as he could expect. What he found difficult to understand was the feeling of lack of worth that turning up every Monday morning gave him. The... read more

Especially when they are new to the business, people see their position in the company as fragile. They often need signs other than formal appraisals and skills inventories to help them to feel accepted and appreciated. Providing your staff with... read more

Project Management is a Cinderella occupation. Nick Garratt knows this only too well. He has to use not only his planning and organizational skills to keep the team of engineers and technicians on timetable, he also has to be the bearer of bad... read more

Eleanor Valentine and Gary Yardley do basically the same job in an engineering company. They are both designers working on the same project and the Vice President has just made an announcement that special bonuses will be paid to employees making... read more

The role of money as a motivator is indisputable if you don't have enough. With bills to pay and mouths to feed, most hunter/gatherers will push themselves to get enough money into the bank account to remove those troublesome worries. However,... read more

The most effective tool in a manager's toolkit for dealing with poor performance is coaching. Not screaming at them from the stands and withholding rewards but working with them down on the pitch to find out what's causing the problem and building... read more

Performance Management is a system developed out of the best practice of top performing organizations to provide managers with a structured approach to the key retention criteria. Simplistically, most people will feel motivated and will want to... read more

Quin Jerome is Sales Director with a clothing company. He is a talented talker and entertains major clients on a regular basis. One summer he was deputizing while the CEO was on vacation and found an entry in his planner that just said "11.00 -... read more

Cameron Timpson is CEO of a medium-sized electronic assembly operation. He makes a point of making a weekly recognition award to the best assembler on the factory floor. "Today," he shouts to the gathering crowd "it is Lavinia Argot's turn" and... read more

The monthly performance recognition awards have come round again but, once more, Fiona White is sure she won't be featuring. Fiona is a consistent administration worker. She is well organized and clears her desk of the day's work without making... read more

The company newsletter hit Ruth Kenyon's desk and there was her picture on the front page under the heading "Employee of the Month". A simple paragraph of text explained that she had single-handedly reduced the debtor days from 39 to 32 in a... read more

Performance Management is coming under critical fire because the complexity of some of the processes is beginning to over-ride the fundamental principles. However, as Hogan Armstrong knows, elements of Performance Management work well for both... read more

Toby Miller is your picture of an all round good guy. He doesn't even consider himself to be much of a star but he does enjoy going to work and he enjoys mixing with his co-workers, making sure that they all smile at least once a day. Of course... read more

The training administration team at Glasburg Associates perform miracles on a daily basis. Not only are they preparing for next week's batch of training courses, they are assisting in courses running each day and they are covering the phones to... read more

Of course, we all majored in recognition skills at high school. Being positive comes as second nature to everybody and we never focus too much on faults. Unfortunately there the fairy tale must end. Complaining, it seems, is a much more... read more