Page 207 - The Power to Change Anything

196 INFLUENCER

Generally people are perfectly happy getting rewarded for
something they already enjoy. For example, imagine that you
absolutely love playing the harp (a hobby you picked up in your
forties) and your next-door neighbor asks you to play at his son’s
wedding reception—for a nice fee. You love playing, you love
the attention, and you are really psyched about getting paid for
doing something you already love doing. You can’t believe your
luck. For you, getting paid to do what you love doing doesn’t
diminish your affection one tiny bit.
Sometimes, however, making use of extrinsic rewards can
be complicated. As Dr. Lepper learned, not every reward has
its desired effect. Sometimes extrinsic programs can com-
pletely backfire and serve as a punishment. For example, a com-
pany’s “Employee of the Month Program” is supposed to give
special attention to people who have done something, well, spe-
cial. They’re singled out at an all-hands meeting and are given
a plaque.
Comedian Demetri Martin summed up the way a lot of
employees feel about such programs when he said, “I think
employee-of-the-month is a good example of when a person
can be a winner and a loser at the same time.”
To many employees, being singled out in front of and com-
pared to peers might not be all that rewarding. It could be just
the equivalent of saying, “Congratulations! Here’s a hundred
dollars, a beautiful plaque with your name engraved on it—and
four weeks of unrelenting ridicule from your coworkers!”
Organizational scholars have long found that many employ-
ees leave corporate award ceremonies not motivated and
excited as intended, but with exactly the opposite reaction.
They exit demotivated and upset because they themselves
weren’t honored. In fact, many see the whole ceremony as a
sham. Interviews reveal that typically half of those who attend
corporate awards programs believe that they were far better
qualified than the person who was honored but that they
didn’t get picked for political reasons.