Four Team Incentives

Teams thrive on incentives. What motivates teams?

Create a baseline to measure the impact of incentives on employee performance. Involve employees in creating the targets for each respective team. Divide those targets into manageable milestones. Divide rewards increasing the value as they move closer to the targets.

Four team incentives include money, a promotion, tangibles and intangibles.

Bonuses rule. Cut teams in on a cost-share bases. Short term targets lead to long term gains. Buy-in leads to ownership. Teams will drive their own success and hold each other accountable to obtain a coveted bonus.

Promotions come in a lot of packages. A prestigious job title coupled new skills help leverage talented teams. Upward mobility usually leads to higher pay and sometimes better benefits. A clear trajectory into management motivates teams to excel.

Tangibles include trips, season sports or concert tickets or a team retreat. Not every team is management material, but any team can improve performance with the right incentives.

Intangibles include recognition, awards, team of the month which should be coupled with special privileges.
This can be a special luncheon or barbeque on company time.

Incentives should be a part of any team approach and available at all levels of the organization.
Conduct an evaluation and make improvements to the incentive program. Change incentives periodically to achieve maximum performance.