What’s the payoff? Exploring rewards that really matter…
Author’s note: I originally looked to put together a piece outlining what types of rewards and recognition are best used by leaders in a workplace setting, but alas I was waylaid by a bigger pursuit. A bigger, more beautiful brace of questions started to emerge…and so let’s start there, shall we?
Do rewards even matter?
Are they actually holding us back from being our best selves?
Well to answer the first question, yes of course they matter.
And the second question? To a point, yes, they do. Let’s unpack exactly how rewards can serve certain pursuits, but can be distractionary data in other—dare i say it—even more important areas of our life.
Where rewards are fuel (for the good fire)
Let’s face it, as highly evolved as we like to consider ourselves, human beings are full of basic drives and irrationality. Heck, if we were completely rational, there’d be no war, no poverty, we’d all be magnificently healthy and have wonderful relationships. We’d command lives of sheer magnificence based on unending rational thought process, and no one would be watching daytime soap operas.
But we don’t lead that type of life. Or at least, we don’t have it all. And yep, Bold and the Beautiful will still be on tomorrow.
So we make decisions that aren’t always in our best interests, especially in the long term. Why?
At our core we’re largely a hedonistic animal. We seek pleasure and try to minimise pain. And that’s where rewards are like a drug. In fact they are a precursor for one the most powerful drugs we know, Dopamine. When someone or something presents itself as a response to effort, we feel good. And that’s good, until it’s not.
The physiology of reward systems
Because the ‘high’ we feel when rewarded or recognised for work is, at it’s base, drug-induced, our system quickly develops two responses to the introduction of (pretty much) any drug. They are;
- Cravings – we want more of it, and
- Habituation – we get used to it
So we find ourselves in our own neuropeptide soup of dissatisfactions. We want more, but more just won’t do. So we want even more, and more again.
And so we see the problem. Inherently in our own physiology it starts to become less about the work and all about the chemical payoff. Rewards and recognition can be a trap that ultimately neither party (the giver and the reciever) can be satisfied with over the longer term.
So does this mean we should not do rewards or recognition at all?
Heck no. You should use them most certainly, but application matters, and the context matters even more.
Applying rewards effectively
So let’s look at application or rewards and recognition and put that into three main rules;
Rule 1 – make it match (the reward should be in keeping with the effort)
Ever given your heart and soul to a project, only to get a tokenistic reward or small vote of thanks? It feels pretty demotivating doesn’t it? Much the same as you rip out a small piece of work and everyone makes a huge song-and-dance about it. Rewards and reinforcement work best when they match the occasion.
Rule 2 – make it variable (rewards become less effective when predictable)
Ever received a xmas bonus? Perhaps you’ve got an automatic pay increase on a work anniversary? Nice when it happens. But truthfully, did those rewards or recognition affect your performance? Predictable reinforcers become entitlements in a blindingly quick timeframe. So try not to attach rewards and reinforcers to predictable metrics (holidays, calendar dates etc) but rather, think in terms of considered spontaneity.
Rule 3 – make it count (by caring, not systematising)
We’ve all heard the advice about monetary rewards and the variable efficacy of their application. The biggest problem with using cash as a reward is it’s easily comparable. Especially amongst others. ‘The fact Jim got $300 instead of Jemma’s $250 means he did a better job’ and yet the tasks could have been hugely different. Because of the structure and meaning of money, it seems often the only solution is to remove subjectivity by collapsing all monetary rewards into a system/policy which in turn negates their impact even further.
Here’s a novel approach. Try care based rewards and recognition more often. Find out things about the individual and make the reward anchored against those. It’ll create a positive value distortion that is a win-win for both parties.
Ok so there’s a few basics on applying rewards and recognition as a tool to increase performance and ownership within a given task or project. But we’re only just halfway through this conversation. Maybe pop the kettle on and make yourself a brew, or order your half-shot almond latte from your delightfully condescending barista and settle in for the big consideration of how, when, or why we should use rewards and recognition. Because as much as application is important, context is king.
What game are you playing?
So we’ve established that rewards are biochemically-based (tick) and therefore have increasing demand to stay relevant and satisfying (double-tick). They can be powerful, but ultimately (by their chemical nature) will ultimately end up dissatisfying (cross).
But here’s the real secret. The effective use of rewards over the long term is switching between games.
James Carse is a legend. His philosophical masterpiece Finite and Infinite Games —a vision of life as play and possibility is one of those rare books where you’re challenged so much by the concept, you need to dig in, several times, to truly appreciate the wisdom within.
Carse introduces us to the concept that there are two games we can partake in, finite and infinite games.
A finite game is typically one of the more familiar games of life. The successful delivery of a project is a finite game. Sporting or board games are finite games, because typically they have a start and an end, and we can measure success easily (winning and losing). The rules are rigid and enforced and don’t change. The boundaries of a finite game is designed to constrain the players within the framework.
An infinite game exhibits a different construct. The rules of infinite games must change and there is no ending; in fact the primary purpose of the infinite game is to keep the game going. Infinite games transcend time and also the playing group.
Work hard, play harder
If we apply Carse’s theory against the use of rewards, some themes emerge. If you’re playing a finite game, reinforcers can be jet fuel for performance. It is a finite game within the finite game itself. Keep the rules and boundaries of the game (it’s duration, measures of success and intensity) visible and you’ll undoubtably see the players of that type of game do well under intelligently applied reward systems.
So rewards and finite games are a match made in heaven. Sort of.
The upside is there is always another finite game you can play, but it’s a double-edged sword. Finite games have an ending, but there’s always another game waiting as soon as you’ve finished the last one.
The problem emerges when the rewards and the pursuit of the finite game give no sense of satiety.
You can inadvertently create a giant hamster wheel that ultimately becomes a definition of burnout; progress without purpose.
A word of warning: if you decide to play finite games, along with the reward systems that can accompany them, your pathways to continued motivation tend to be one of two options.
- Keep finding bigger, more exciting finite games to play
- (I’ll reveal this in a second)
If you choose option one (especially for the people you lead) ready yourself for a savage withdrawal. And it will happen.
Here you were, with years of deep, wonderful co-work catalogued, and yet it will still go sour. Why?
Because you drugged them up, and now they’re experiencing a drug withdrawal. And it’s brutal. Their system, so used to the powerful neurostimulus of Dopamine, now screams for it yet you can no longer provide a hit big enough to satiate it. So their system has to endure the rigours of it being taken off them.
Typical if we had a substance abuser coming off a hard drug, we’d see visible signs of the withdrawal like fever, shakes and massive mood swings. The dopamine withdrawal has fewer visible symptoms, but has its own changes. Frustration, anger, disappointment or even lethargy are all withdrawal symptoms of someone who has been used to the hedonist lifestyle of the finite game.
So a word of warning. If you decide to jack up the game of using rewards, there’ll be a crash. You can chase bigger games and deliver bigger rewards, but it’s inevitable it (they) will fall over at some point.
But back to our options of keeping motivation high.
- As discussed, you can keep finding bigger, more exciting finite games to play, or
- Switch to an infinite game
Y’see performance can be driven extrinsically (rewards et al) or it can be driven intrinsically by the pursuit of the infinite game. Humility, Self-awareness, Consciousness, Gratitude…these are all infinite games to play. They never have an end state, they’ll outlive any individual and I’d contest the outcome of playing these games far outstrips any rewards that can come from even the most brilliantly designed finite game.
Let’s wrap it.
Well, this got bigger than expected, didn’t it? Rewards by their very nature are something to be handled carefully. So to take 2000 words and condense it into a simple suggestion, let’s try the following.
Use rewards and recognition if you’re playing a finite game. But realise you will need to keep playing, bigger, more exciting games that carry, bigger, more exciting rewards.
Or switch into playing infinite games. There’ll be no real requirement for reward as these games are far more intrinsically driven.
As a final thought, true leadership starts happening when we play the infinite games. But that’s a whole other post.
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