Page 209 - The Power to Change Anything

198 INFLUENCER

Within a few months the cash-for-ideas program had com-
pletely broken down. In fact, members of one work group
ended up beating up one of their own team members as a result
of the program. It turns out the team came up with a really good
idea, and Charlie, the aforementioned team member, promised
that he’d take care of the paperwork. He then submitted the sug-
gestion under his own name and kept the $5,000 bonus for him-
self. When his teammates found out about the deception, first
they confronted him, then someone shoved him, then a melee
broke out, and Charlie ended up in the emergency room.
To avoid further injuries, the owner did away with the
incentive program. Of course, she still invited suggestions, but
none came in. Employees now believed that she was shorting
them by asking for ideas without offering incremental pay. She
had hoped to use the suggestion program to stimulate innova-
tion, but found that by paying people for their thoughts, she
had inadvertently sent the message that making suggestions was
outside a person’s normal job requirements. Now employees
believed that if they came up with a good idea, they deserved
to be paid a bonus. Otherwise, they were being exploited.
What’s a leader to do?

USE INCENTIVES WISELY
Remember the principle we started with. Don’t use incentives
to compensate for your failure to engage personal and social
motivation. Nevertheless, let’s be clear. Influence masters even-
tually use rewards and punishments. For instance, if you don’t
repay a loan to Muhammad Yunus’s Grameen Bank, your bor-
rower group has to pay it back for you. And remember, people
there know where you live! If a person in a rural African vil-
lage discovers that his neighbor is hiding a Guinea worm
infection—and if that person brings it to the attention of vil-
lage leaders—the good citizen is given an attractive T-shirt
(emblazoned with a Guinea worm logo).