This is the problem I have always had with incentives and performance evaluation systems.  As soon as you write down a performance objective, you set a standard and you tend to get exactly that; no more no less.  And no matter how high you set the standards, they become the focus rather than the organization’s mission. This is the essence of bureaucracy.

When the incentives involve pay, there is rarely upside.  Usually it’s a disincentive when people don’t get what they expect.

People have to choose to be excellent.

It comes down to Jim Collin’s Hedgehog Concept and a culture that communicates it like a constant drum beat.  You have to measure what fuels the organization’s economic engine and center everyone’s attention on achieving it.

Those that don’t believe need to leave.

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

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