As the title suggests, we will examine how HR leaders can accomplish more through better planning and execution of their employee reward programs.

The Siemens story—one that Madison is very proud to be a big part of—is a great example of how smart HR leaders can accomplish more with rewards and recognition that drive increased efficiency and effectiveness.

Why did we pick this topic? Everyone is under pressure to “do more with less” but too often the focus is on the “with less” part, rather than the “do more” demand. Susan and I—using Siemens’ You Answered program as a real-life case study—will outline how you too can accomplish more.

First, we will talk about effectiveness; discussing why recognition is more important today than it’s ever been and why smart companies are using it to align employee behaviors with brand expectations. Siemens used their program to help employees understand their individual roles in delivering Answers to customers and coworkers alike.

We will also discuss efficiency—and by that I mean the mechanics, the processes and the controls inherent in any recognition program. In that regard, you will learn how Siemens gained the four C’s:

• Compliance, the ability to automatically manage the program’s policies and rules across multiple business sectors;
• Control, a deeper visibility into program activity at both the summary and granular level;
• Consistency across the enterprise, while maintaining a personalized user experience at the business unit level for all stakeholders; and
• Convenience for employees and HR administrators alike by automating all aspects of the program in a seamless, simple and intuitive manner.

If you can’t join us and want to read more about Siemens’ and Madison’s success together click here.

Let’s look at agility from two dimensions. First, companies need to be able to turn on a dime. They need to have the dexterity to pivot as the market does, or better yet, change direction as they see new opportunities coming into view.  The old expression that if you are not moving forward you are falling behind applies here. Companies that cannot effectively navigate through the volume and velocity of change that comes from shifting competitive influences, new technologies and fluid customer expectations will lose ground in a hurry.

But successful change is more people dependent than process driven. Even when the implementation of new tools or procedures is well planned, companies that fail to give their employees enough personal motivation to embrace the change run the risk of failing. This leads to the second dimension of agility—the ability to motivate employees to embrace the change you are introducing quickly and efficiently.

The word agility brings to mind traits like coordination and flexibility—characteristics that are admittedly more human than systems-related.  Yet businesses need an agile reward and recognition system—one that allows them to easily and efficiently focus employees on new behaviors, or procedures, or technical tools that allow them to seize openings. They need systems that can quickly target impacted employees and use the combination of communications, recognition and rewards to turn potential resistance into widespread acceptance.

By combining those two dimensions—the ability to pivot in the marketplace with the ability to motivate employees to embrace change—smart companies will have the agility they need to be big winners in a morphing marketplace.

Are you one of those companies? If you push out early communications that focus more on “how” to work with a new tool or process, you probably fit that mold. Or if your only insight into compliance issues are the reams reports that track hard-coded metrics you most definitely are.

Don’t get me wrong. Both are important in their own way. Employees need to know “how” things work and your senior executives will want to know “how” new processes are impacting the operation, but neither should be the first (or even the most important) focus of your plan.

The first step is to consider the human element of change and do what smart change managers do—proactively ask HR to help you with two things: establishing communications that give employees a reason to change and leveraging tools that help managers celebrate the change when they see it.

Change initiatives fail more often than not because employees don’t understand “why” they are being asked to change their behaviors or “why” they should do things differently. Your employees first need to know what’s in it for them. That’s where recognition systems come into play.

The best recognition systems support personalized communications that help companies break down corporate rationale into behaviors that employees can understand, relate to, embrace and act upon. And the inherent award setting flexibility gives managers the option to set specific performance objectives or recognize an employee that’s behaving in the manner that’s desired.

Having a recognition tool in place helps to communicate the “whys” and it also rewards employees “when” they utilize the new process or procedure. Trust me, both are more interesting than any long list of “hows” you might be planning to publish.

That means 70% of the time your firm tries to implement a change they either strikeout altogether or stumble somewhere on the base path before they reach home plate. Either way, they fail to score.

While a .300 hitter may be considered among the best in baseball, that average in the real world will put you closer to the Hall of Shame than the Hall of Fame.

How can companies dealing with constant transformation improve their change management batting average? How can they get those new processes and procedures accepted by the same employees who will be called upon to use them? The answer is by working with their HR teams to implement the three guidelines I laid out in my last Performance Perspective.

1) Start by creating communications that inform and inspire. If your messages explain only the “whys and hows” of your plan then they are failing to give the targeted employees the personal motivation they need to embrace the change. Failure to do so is strike one.

2) Next you need to create a clearer connection between management’s goals and an individual’s actions. Companies today must do a better job earlier in the process of translating “corporate intent” into “digestible direction” for employees. Not in your plans? Strike two.

3) And finally, to really hit it out of the park, add measurement that’s truly actionable. Don’t simply rely on high-level measures. Instead ask the HR team to use recognition data to isolate the cause and effect of employee behavior with more certainty and to use that knowledge to drive key behaviors toward desired outcomes. What happens to employee resistance when companies do that? Three words: going, going, gone!

Companies are facing—and will continue to deal with—a lot of change moving forward. It’s incumbent upon everyone in the organization to improve acceptance and adoption success. By using recognition tools and techniques, you and your HR players can get your change management batting average up to where it should be.

Dan was a banker. And although he would rise from the ranks of teller to manage branch operations he would toil at the same bank over a 40 year career. Peggy, like most women of her era, was a stay-at-home housewife. She ventured back into the job market in her early 30s landing a bookkeeping job with the phone company where she would perform the same functions, every day, for the next quarter century.

While we boomers grew up in households that valued job stability, our views on work have evolved over time.  Our parents saw a “good job” as something you held onto for life—it was their ticket to a comfortable lifestyle and a secure retirement.

As for me, I have had my share of career turns. I started in the airline industry, wandered into software sales and eventually found my calling in the employee recognition business. Like all the other boomers that define my generation we have mixed feelings on the issue of employer/employee loyalty. While we respect the concept of longevity with one employer it’s not what drives us—at least not any more anyway. Now we insist on working relationships that are mutually beneficial—based on respect and defined by roles that fit our skills and value sets. In plain English; if we feel that we are treated with dignity and are doing things that are interesting and important then we are all in. If not, we can get restless—and in spite of our advancing years—we will contemplate moving on.

So what should companies do to keep boomers energized and focused? Start by recognizing their contributions and their importance to you. Remind them that success has been (and will always be) a two way proposition—for them and the company.  This will reinforce their ongoing desire to matter—to stay involved in something that’s vital and vibrant.

As we get older some of us get busy inventorying our lives. That’s only natural. In an ideal world, your boomers will be looking at their current working relationship as one of the best things that has ever happened to them. Chances are if you recognize them and their efforts, they will continue to feel that way for many more birthdays to come.

How often has your company embarked on a major project only
to find that the organization went astray in the process?  If your
answer is more than you’d like to admit, you are not alone. Most
change initiatives get lost along the way and fail to deliver the
expected returns sponsors hoped for.

PricewaterhouseCoopers says that nine out of 10 road blocks to
successful change programs are people related. And according to Ipsos MORI only one out of four employees believes change is
well managed in their organization.

The issue for most businesses is the growing disconnect between management’s desire to alter elements of its operation and an employee’s craving for clarity. Simply put, when companies do change, they focus too much on the “migration mechanics” and not enough on the employees affected.

Adding to the problem is that change communications don’t speak to the worker in their day-to-day language. They don’t illustrate success in tangible terms, and they don’t “sell” the pathway forward in a way that excites and motives employees.

Think of your employee recognition program as a better road sign. It can help steer employees in the right direction; driving alignment, putting behaviors into focus and accelerating the intended business improvements throughout the intersection of operations and employee groups.

Change is coming in your organization. If it’s not here already, it’s just down the road. The only question is what road sign are you using to keep your employees eyes on the pathway forward?

Who should own the outcome?

A. Senior management, who needs the ongoing flexibility to navigate its organization toward new approaches and better outcomes?

B. Middle managers responsible for all the moving parts—integration experts or system engineers who work to ease assimilation issues?

C. Other? HR for example—a group more prepared to manage the “human side” of change.

The answer should be “D” all of the above and here’s why.

Yes, senior management is highly dependent on their business’s ability to evolve and adapt in what’s a quickly changing business world. That’s one reason why their support and visibility is essential. No group is more prepared to explain the reasons and timing behind big changes, and has more riding on the outcome than the C-suite.

Support teams are also vital. Without them how would companies address any technical or functional glitch that might otherwise short-circuit the process?

Both roles are important but neither matters much unless the company is also focused on “the people dynamic”.  That’s why HR must own the human side of change management.

Numerous thought leaders who know a thing or two about the discipline of HR—PricewaterhouseCoopers, Towers Watson, McKinsey—have all written about the lofty expectations top managers now have of their HR teams. In our talent-based economy, they expect HR to help prepare the organization to be more competitive. Owning the human side of change adoption is an area where HR can add a new dimension to the organization.

For more on this opportunity for HR, read our recent Performances Perspectives on change management.

This was a question posed recently to John Tortorella, successful head coach of the New York Rangers. I bring this up because his answer sounds like it’s coming from the mouth of an enlightened business executive instead of the coach behind one of the best teams in the National Hockey League.

Referencing the 29 teams his squad competes with, Tortorella noted how the Rangers must adjust and readjust to changing competition. His preparation revolves around three integrated aspects; skills, systems and strategy.  He demands high skill levels but acknowledges that his team must sometimes modify their collective skills to better match the other team. “Our system—the routines we run, the combinations we deploy during the game—are flexible enough to bend and readjust based on the competition’s core strengthen. Our strategy for any of the teams we face is based on how we will leverage our skills—collectively, as individuals and teammates—and deploy them within the proper system as a cohesive unit.”

He also acknowledges that change—of their system and strategy—can let people off the hook if not properly managed. “If you don’t explain your rationale and don’t let everyone know what their roles are individually and why each role is critical to the big picture, they will question your plan and your leadership if things don’t go well. That’s why it important to keep everyone informed and motivated so they buy-into what we are doing here.”

Words we can all live by whether or not we make our living from behind a bench or a desk. Business leaders must keep the lines of communication open; they must translate the unit’s goals into specific actions and outcomes that individuals can understand and buy into, and they must keep everyone motivated and focused on how their individual skills support the group as a whole no matter how much the system or the strategy changes.

“Asian Appreciation”

In the April issue of HR Executive, Madison’s Alex Alaminos and Mike Ryan commented on ways to boost employee engagement in China and the importance of localizing global programs. Alaminos acknowledged that older workers in China prefer to be recognized publicly, while younger workers adapt well to online recognition programs. “In China, it’s imperative that the program takes into account how employees culturally like to be recognized. HR should be involved in the process early on to make sure corporate is capturing everything,” said Alaminos.

“Inviting the Masses to Rate Employee Performance”

Mike Ryan contributed to a SHRM online story about crowdsourcing and employee performance appraisals. Ryan said, “It is shortsighted to think that a manager knows everything an employee has done with other teams and the impact that the employee has made…Crowdsourcing provides managers that additional insight and perspective.”

“Reducing Turnover & Keeping Top Performers”

For the Premium Incentive Products March/April issue, Mike Ryan discussed ways companies can keep high-performing knowledge workers as the global economy recovers. “When you have a high performer that you are sensing is disengaged and their contribution isn’t what it used to be, maybe it’s time to call and say, ‘I just want to take a moment to thank you for all of your efforts this last quarter to help us get beyond the last critical point,’” said Ryan.