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09 Jul 2018
by Debra Corey

Five ways to use technology to break down motivation and reward silos

Motivation is key to the success of your business in the same way that it is key to the success of a sports team. If you want a sports team to win you need to find the motivation for each player, using this to drive them to be their best, for themselves and for their team. For one player it may be to score a goal, for another it may be to tackle someone from the other team, for another it may be quite simply getting off the bench to play.

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The same is true when it comes to “winning the game” for your company. You need to find the motivation for each of your “players”. For one it may be recognition for their efforts, for another it may be to take part in a training programme, for another it may be participating in your benefits programme.

These motivations and reward programmes are exactly what we’ve been designing and putting in place over the years. But not until the advancements of technology have we been able to use them to help us truly win with our employees, breaking down the silos and having them, along with our employees, work together as a team. I’ve seen this firsthand with the technology I use at my company to motivate and engage my workforce. I’ve seen technology do five things:

1. Brings reward together. For a sports team to win, the first thing you need to do is bring your team together. Technology has allowed us to do this by bringing together our reward programmes in one system, removing the silos that prevented our employees from seeing them as one package, and one winning team. 

2. Makes reward interactive. Once you bring your team together, the key to winning is to have your players interact and work together, breaking down silos preventing them from doing this. Technology has advanced to allow this interaction between our employees and the reward programmes, motivating employees to engage with them. For example, if I’m motivated by saving money, I could interact with my online discount benefit or access my company’s financial wellbeing portal if these are part of the reward offering.

3. Makes reward easy. A team can only interact if it’s easy to do, removing barriers which get in the way. Technology has advanced to make this easy for our employees to do. For example, one of my favourite features of the technology I use is being able to recognise a colleague directly from the news story that tells about the great things they’ve done. If you put the “ball” in the hands of your employees, they’re sure to “score” each and every time.

4. Puts reward in the spotlight. Part of the motivation for winning a game is celebrating with others. Technology has created a social spotlight for our employees and our reward programmes. For example, many recognition programmes now have an online social wall, which is a great way for your entire “team” to celebrate the successes of others, motivating them to achieve success themselves.

5. Makes reward fun. Finally, a team needs to enjoy playing or they’re going to lose motivation and ultimately lose the game. Technology has been great at turning somewhat dull and boring reward programmes into something fun and motivational. For example, being able to add emojis to your social recognition wall is certainly fun, I mean, who doesn’t love emojis?

So, in ending, let me wish you well in using technology to help your company and your employees achieve the “win” through your reward programmes.

The author is Debra Corey, group reward director at Reward Gateway.

This article was provided by Reward Gateway.

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