Recognition and reward

You should consciously recognize and reward good performance.

People are motivated if they feel they are valued in the organization, and this value is demonstrated by the rewards given to them. 

Most view money as a very tangible aspect of any reward system, but other intangible rewards are also effective.

Most project team members are motivated by an opportunity to grow, accomplish, and apply their professional skills to meet new challenges. 

Public recognition of good performance creates positive reinforcement. 

A good strategy for project managers is to give the team all possible recognition during project delivery, rather than waiting until after the project is completed.

It is also important that only desirable behavior is rewarded. 

For example, the willingness to work overtime to meet an aggressive schedule objective should be rewarded or recognized; needing to work overtime as the result of poor planning by the team member should not be rewarded. 

Nevertheless, team members should not be punished for poor planning and consistently unrealistic expectations imposed by senior management.

Interestingly, win-lose (zero-sum) rewards that only a limited number of project team members can realize can actually hurt team cohesion.

Rewarding behavior that everyone can achieve, such as turning in status reports on time, tends to increase support among team members.

Cultural differences should also be considered when determining recognition and rewards; for example, developing appropriate team rewards in a culture that encourages individualism can be difficult.

It is therefore important that the appropriate task, time, and cost allowances are made in the original project plan for recognition and rewards to occur.

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Too much of a good thing

For recognition to be meaningful, it must not be overdone.

Performance that merits recognition should demonstrably exceed the threshold of what is normal or expected.

You should be careful that you are not creating a culture of reward entitlement, whereby everyone gets their turn at receiving praise (regardless of the contribution).

Similarly, you should avoid perceptions of favoritism by constantly singling out for praise an elite few.

These are common traps for ‘employee of the month‘ style incentive schemes – they are either devalued through being awarded on a roster basis, or stigmatized by being seen as inaccessible to most employees.

As with all things project management, balance is the key.