Thursday, October 13, 2022

Back to Square One - Incentives Matter

 


I was sitting in a volunteer meeting for an organization where the discussion was focused on event attendance. The elephant in the room rapidly became clear. There was no incentive for the organization to go out and do the work to get new members or encourage old members to increase attendance. There were a broad number of excuses, but it was clear that there was no push to have people work at getting bodies in the door. No one was accountable. There were no incentives positive or negative. Whether public or private, the Munger quote is appropriate. If incentives are not in place, you will not get a positive outcome.

Next meeting you attend, look at the incentive structure and then determine why something is or is not getting done. The answer will be clear. No incentives. However, money may not always be the right incentives and sometimes the incentives may not be immediate, or the incentive could be to save oneself from being fired or demoted. 

Dig deep and look for the incentives. Nevertheless, for incentives to be effective, they must be clear and connected to the action required.  

Other comments on incentives:

Incentives matter - So always looks for the incentives



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