The Natural Terrain of Recognition & Rewards Systems
I ran this morning and was thinking through how some of the “tactical stuff” we do relates to the bigger picture “strategic stuff”. When we work with employee incentive programs, employee recognition awards or even trade show giveaways (anathema for many “recognition companies”, but if you support corporate brands it makes sense) we’re always thinking about how the particular project relates to the brand and culture of the client. Very often, someone will want to do something that — while it might be a fine stand-alone idea — doesn’t quite fit the culture of the company. As I was rolling this through my head, my path turned through the woods near a creek, and for a mile or so, I had a great experience wandering where the path needed to go relative to the trees, the creek and the topography. It felt very natural because the terrain dictated where I had to run. When I popped out of the woods, I found myself on a sidewalk next to a residential development. This particular development is about fifteen years old and must have been created by someone (or a committee) that had been told or had read somewhere that curvy sidewalks are better then straight ones. The street was straight as an arrow and the walls of the development ran along with it perfectly parallel. But, the sidewalk between the two was a series of carefully engineered curves, all with the same radius and none curving around an obstacle — just curving back and forth for the sake of it. It felt really odd to run on this slithering piece of concrete when the natural course should have simply been straight ahead. If you know your company well, trust your instincts about what “feels” good relative to your culture. Find the natural terrain for your Recognition and Reward Systems and if it’s not easy to see, do some exploring, venture down multiple paths … the work will be worth the effort.
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