Recognition has always been a key driver of engagement and performance, but as our workplaces evolve, so too must our recognition strategies.

In advance of the annual IMA Summit, we speak with three IESP executive-level members about the future of employee recognition programs and how data and AI are impacting incentive campaigns.

In incentive campaigns, personalization can increase engagement and boost ROI for sponsoring companies. But what does personalization of incentive programs actually mean? And how is it accomplished? Take a closer look (or listen).

How do you design a travel incentive program that excites and motivates employees of all ages? Learn how tailored experiences designed with the younger generation in mind can guide your program to success.

The complexity of B2B sales processes today means that many sales cycles can last six months, and some can take more than a year. Too often, reps try to shorten the sales cycle by skipping vital steps that help earn trust and showcase value. By structuring an incentive campaign that rewards reps for completing steps along the way to a sale as well as closing a deal, companies help ensure their proven sales processes are followed. Hear from two experts about the value of this type of incentive program for building employee engagement in every sales level of performers.

Sales kickoffs can be an effective way to generate enthusiasm at the beginning of the year. These events, often held at an offsite location in January, provide an opportunity to reinforce effective sales tactics, introduce new product lines, new tech tools, or new sales processes. Salespeople can depart from a multiday kickoff event with high energy and even higher confidence, only to have that evaporate soon after. In this episode, we talk with two leaders of incentive program providers about the science behind keeping the energy and enthusiasm generated by sales kickoffs going throughout the year.

Workforce demographic shifts and emerging trends for program participants and sponsors have resulted in significant changes for incentive travel initiatives. As costs increase, so does the importance of ROI. Thus, today’s incentive travel campaigns are highly sophisticated with opportunities for all team members. Success begins in the planning stages, relies on a well-conceived launch and creative communication and includes a thorough post-event analysis. In this episode, we talk with two incentive travel veterans about important insights from recent research, best practices for program sponsors and why incentive travel is unparalleled for engendering loyalty and workplace engagement.

The business world continually turns to technology to simplify complex or even previously impossible tasks. However, technology isn't as quickly adopted for some aspects of business as quickly as it could be. Incentive and recognition campaigns are one example where much of the technology that is available is not getting used. Incentive and engagement solution providers offer software platforms that are proven to increase engagement of program participants, improve ROI and enhance the overall experience of incentive, recognition and consumer loyalty programs. Learn more about what the technology in this area can accomplish and why you should be tapping into it.

Managers often become managers because they were successful in a non-management role. They routinely met – or exceeded – their goals, which can make it difficult for them to cope with members of their team now who fall short of their goals. In this episode, we explore the fact that missed goals are not always solely the fault of the person who misses them. Managers can be partly – or even mostly – to blame.

Industry experts from around the world at the 2022 IMA Summit discussed future planning for reward and recognition programs and waning-pandemic strategies. As the pandemic wanes, they advised leaders to return to a longer-term, more strategic viewpoint and to reinvest in the humanness of the organization. Employees today want to be treated as individuals and to feel valued as contributors to company success. And, if employees can work/live from anywhere, how will current technologies and reward and recognition policies support them?

Successful engagement in rewards and recognition programs relies on getting people involved. But the question is HOW? Researchers have discovered seven principles that make persuasion more successful, and this episode is packed with them – including words from the godfather of persuasion himself, Dr. Robert Cialdini. This episode will help you engage your employees, salespeople, channel partners, and customers with simple and ethical tools. These persuasion principles will quickly and easily improve your results.

As they explore three workplace trends, Adaptive Elasticity, Authentic Transparency and Wellness to Wellbeing, our experts discuss how these are impacting your business today. Then they’ll share strategic insights on how to develop and implement policies that impact your people.

Measuring ROI is only one way to use data. The real power of data comes from a multi-dimensional approach. Lincoln Smith, chief strategy officer, HMI Performance Incentives, shares how loyalty and incentive programs can be powerful tools to drive revenue when data is applied to program design and decision-making in ways that build value into the relationships.

Why would industry professionals travel from near and far for the IMA Summit, on the heels of the pandemic? Learn what attendees had to say and what experts have learned about the power of in-person networking. Motivations Insiders conducted interviews with more than 20 attendees at the 2021 IMA Summit in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Most of us agree that rewards are motivational, but do we know what kinds of rewards deliver the most motivational impact in incentive and recognition settings? A century ago, Elton MacDonald, who is credited with selling the first incentive program using merchandise as a reward, discovered two key pillars of the motivational power of rewards. In this episode, we explore the behavioral science behind those motivational powers. First, we discuss how the best reward is hedonic – in order to engage our emotions. Second, it needs to be luxurious – in order to engage our attention. With the help of a field expert, Mark Smith, senior rewards director at One10 and two academic researchers, Scott Jeffrey, PhD from Monmouth University and Jana Gallus, PhD from UCLA’s Anderson School of Business, we unpack the behavioral science and best practices on how to use rewards.

Motivation Insiders is the podcast series created to help improve the results of your incentive and recognition programs. Created in collaboration with the Incentive and Engagement Solution Providers (IESP) board, each episode brings subject matter experts, incentive practitioners and academics in the behavioral science field together to tackle a new topic and provide unique perspectives and expertise. At the end of each episode, the audience will have new knowledge and tools they can use to apply to their incentive program and make it better.

Does your incentive program fail to deliver the results you have been looking for? In this episode host Tim Houlihan and guests Lincoln Smith, Dr. David Cox and Dr. Jana Gallus discuss simple mistakes people make when creating incentive program rules that can cause incentive programs to crash. They will also weigh in on how to apply behavioral science to writing rules that work and provide four fantastic hacks to help you better design your next incentive program.