When I was a kid in school, the Pizza Party was the Pinnacle of Achievement for the class. If we were granted a pizza party by the teacher, it was...
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I totally get this - being trusted to run with an idea always lit a bigger fire in me than any bonus or team lunch ever could. Have you ever seen a leader actually shift a whole team's energy just by handing them real autonomy?
More than seen. I've felt it. I have done things when my leadership supported me that, in hindsight, were more ambitious than I should've been able to pull off.
Couldn't agree more, great post Ben.
Appreciate the kind words!
totally feel this - trust hits way harder for me than any ‘reward’ ever has, honestly. you ever notice things actually get better when people get that space to prove themselves, or does it sometimes backfire?
I haven't seen it backfire yet. I think the decision to trust pays dividends in either direction... if I begin the relationship with distrust, it sets us up to sort of dance around each other for the rest of our time together. But if I start with trust, we build real rapport.
been cool seeing steady progress on trust at work tbh - always hits way deeper than another pizza party. you think giving folks real space beats any kind of bonus in the long run?
I think it makes the bonus more meaningful. I've been given lots of "rewards" by people who didn't extend trust to me - always feels patronizing. But when someone who gave me a real shot to go and do what I could - the reward felt like it mattered more.
I don't propose withholding tangible rewards at all, just making sure they're as effective as they can be 😉
Highly recommended
Oh been there too...At a past job, the incentive was take the remaining days off if we finished our tasks before the end of sprint. One guy did it, they hesitated to give him the time off, and after that when someone finished earlier, they pulled more tasks from the backlog or ask him to join the on call rotation. It was a carrot in front of the donkey.
That's a pretty shady story! And the leadership probably thought they were "boosting efficiency"... not realizing how much morale they were destroying.
Great post.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed!
It was really interesting.