One of the problems we most often encounter in businesses is the unintended consequences caused by incentives and performance measures. This TED talk by Dan Pink makes a compelling case against using extrinsic motivators as incentives. Dan is an entertaining speaker who really knows how to use narrative to get his point across. Enjoy!
In most organisations we engage with, the first thing that is considered whenever a behaviour change is required is an incentive scheme. If we need better customer experience ratings, let's incentivise the front-line staff; if we need people to share knowledge, let's link that behaviour to their KPA's; and so on, and so on. The problem is that incentives almost never have the desired impact, in fact, often quite the opposite. We often refer to Goodhart's Law: When a measure becomes [...]
