Stick & carrot? Just do it RIGHT!

As manager, leader, how you verify your team’s effectiveness? How you reward them when they hit the goals or underperform?

Good question right? In my opinion the starting point is getting to know the employee’s needs – what is really a reward for him – what motivates him to act. Employees at different levels have different needs and the bonus system should be adapted to the given level (position). For example, senior managers are more into stability and comfort of life – stability through a higher salary and count on further personal development. These can be, for example, cyclical training in soft skills, various types of symposia etc. self development. On the contrary the Juniors are more into social life and a fast changing environment – they favor company parties and after work meetings, team building events etc..

How about the month to month gratification?

By setting proper sales goals based on the sales plan, you can set SMART goals for individual employees – it is a measurable way to verify the effectiveness of the sales team member. One method, which I prefer, is when the result exceeds the goal, they can count on a salary multiplier or other benefit mentioned above, in the event of failure to implement the plans, the multiplier may reduce the salary (eg. when we do 110% of the plan we have a 1,05 multiplier, if we are below it could be 0.95). These must be transparent and communicated to the employee that his professional achievements depend to a large extent on him. Another good way to verify employee involvement is periodic appraisals and related bonuses (qualitative bonuses) – discretionary by VP. 

In my opinion it is very important to 1. understand firstly what motivates your team members, 2. set SMART goals, 3. Adjust the gratification system.