Are You Rewarding Ego, Selfishness & Greed?

Most of us in the business of designing and managing reward programs are familiar with the terms unintended consequences.  Many of us have learned this particular lesson the hard way.

In our rush to design plans that drive and reward stellar individual performance, we must take care that we don't overreach and push a culture of selfish, greedy ego-maniacs. The tipping point here can be a fine one, but it is something that warrants our careful attention.  After all, we are what we pay for.

Fast Company has published a great quiz titled Are You Hiring and Breeding Greedy and Selfish Employees?  I would suggest that this same quiz be applied to gauge the tenor of your reward program.

The survey asks you to answer "true" or "false" to a set of twenty statements.  Take a peek at a few of them in the excerpt below.

The people who get ahead (or substitute "get rewarded") in my workplace:

*Say "we" but think "me"

*Hoard their ideas because, after all, there is no reward for sharing them with colleagues

*Ask for help from colleagues but rarely return the favor

*Stockpile resources and won't share, no matter how badly others need them

*Are such all-star ass-kissers that their superiors adore them, but they are despised by their peers and subordinates

*Conveniently "forget" to invite colleagues to high profile meetings

*Don't waste time teaching or mentoring others

Do any of these statements describe the people who get rewarded in your workplace? 

Click through to see and take the entire quiz.

Comments

[working girl]

This is a really important topic - unfortunately these kinds of behaviors are difficult to spot from the top looking down because no one wears ever wears their, 'I'm a brown-nosing weasel' t-shirt to work. But just considering the question is a step in the right direction.

[Ann Bares]

WG:

Important point ... yes - we do have to be ahead of the curve in watching for this because the evidence is tough to spot - thanks!!

[LTCPerformanceStrategies]

Hi Ann, great post. While we strongly believe that giving recognition and feedback is of great importance, we do as humans tend to .... get a little conceited and greedy, don't we? Confidence - good. Selfish and self-congratulating - bad.