Thought of the Day 04.16.08

Last weekend, we took the boys to Enchanted Island, a carnival-type theme park for young children. Spencer and Ethan absolutely loved the bumper-boats, but a big part of what made it enjoyable for them was the two girls working the attraction. They interacted with the kids, splashed them, and did everything they could to make it fun and exciting, even though they could easily have just taken tickets and sat around watching.

So I took a moment to tell them that I appreciated all their effort and the wonderful job they were doing. The girl was very thankful, and she told me to tell her manager because they get a bonus if enough people give praise reports. So we did, and it turns out that this was enough to earn them that bonus. Now, were they doing such good work just so they could earn a bonus, or were they genuinely fun-loving caregivers? I don’t care.

Whether they reward people for being good already or entice them to act better than they are, the genius of incentives is that everyone winds up better off. I just wish that every employer would offer them and that every employee would take advantage of them.