There was a lady helping me with a project at work today.  She did a lot of hard, boring work that will really make it easier to get some important information out of some of our customers.  I need to say “Thanks” for her efforts and that’s what got me thinking: What would really mean the most to her? A card? Money? An email sent with her boss cc’d?

I wish I knew…

That thought then turned into an idea.  (A concept I’m sure has been talked about multiple times before.)  What would happen if everyone got customized bonuses?

I’m talking about the above-and-beyond that an employer gives to his employees.

My idea is that each employee takes a test (like that personality test with the four different colors) anonymously that ascertains what form of praise/reward is most liked by that person.  The employer is able to find out how best to praise/reward the employee accordingly.

A customized bonus.  Something that (hopefully) means more to that specific employee than it would to a colleague.

The specifics would obviously need to be hammered out, but – for example – recognition in front of peers versus a big check. (I’m sure a *big* check would never hurt, though.) Or, time-off versus a set of golf clubs.

Whatever.

Now that I’ve got this written down and out of my head, where does this already take place?  Does it work?  I’d like to know.

(I bet something like this would work for being promoted, too.)

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I’m pretty sure it doesn’t.

The question I always ask myself is: “What’s going to replace the necktie?”

Answer: (For the masses) “Nothing.”

It’s still going to be the go-to piece of clothing for any guy who is trying to dress-up and/or look professional.  Sure, there are other variations.

Also, there is the bow tie.

Until someone comes up with a completely new way to dress a guy up that will appeal to a couple billion men, I’m pretty sure the necktie is here to stay.

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If Brandon Davies were to come and ask me for advice, I would tell him exactly what Seth wrote about in his post on March 4th:

“The worst moments are your best opportunity.

That’s how we judge you and how we remember you.You are presumed to be showing us your real self when you are on deadline, have a headache, are facing a customer service meltdown, haven’t had a good night’s sleep, are facing an ethical dilemma, are momentarily in power, are caught doing something when you thought no one else was looking, are irritable, have the opportunity to extract revenge, are losing a competition or are truly overwhelmed.

What a great opportunity to tell the story you’d like us to hear about you.”

What story is Davies going to tell all of us?

I’m interested.

From: The South Bend Seven

He basically said, “If I were running things, all grades would be done away with; we’d use a pass/fail system.”  I think I was a Sophomore at the time and it was the first time I’d ever heard a teacher actually say something that wasn’t in support of the traditional letter grade system.

That comment left an impression, obviously.

Since then, I’ve thought about this off and on and also had some classes in College that were basically run with a pass/fail system.  I’ll say right now, I’m in favor of pass/fail classes in general.  Do I think that all classes could be run this way?

Yes.

Would a teacher/school have to get creative in some cases?

Yes.

(There are many other “Would … ?” kind of questions to ask and think about, but actually getting to the point of having to ask the questions is what I’m focusing on.)

Here are a few examples from my past schooling:

A class that I took in College comes to mind: Outing Activities.  This was probably the funnest classes I ever took.  We met once a week and then went and did stuff outside.  We surfed, hiked, kayaked, camped, and myriad other things each week.  If we showed up and participated, we passed.  If not, we failed.  There was a comprehensive test at the end that focused on the rules, techniques and other things we’d learned or done during the class.   If you’d been there and done that, it wasn’t difficult to pass the test.  (The test was pass/fail, too.  You could only get 3-4 question wrong and it counted for 20% of your grade…I think.)

Another example from College: Business Leadership.   Our teacher had an MBA and a Doctorate.  He didn’t think tests were a good measuring stick of learning.   He liked giving us projects that would be based on real-world tasks that a person would get at a working at a *real* job.   The projects had to meet certain criteria and were weighted on participation, completeness, presentation and a few other things.  If you did well, you passed.  If not, sorry, game over. (Or, you’re fired.)  I think we, as a class, learned more practical things in that one class than any other our whole Senior year.  (Many of my classmates would agree.)

I also liked the test I had for Spanish class.  At the end of the Semester, I had a speaking exam with the teacher one-on-one.    If you can put the words together we learned over the Semester and understand the questions, pass.  If not, fail.

There’s a lot more that could be said, but basically, I believe that if you can prove you comprehend the subject with a little margin of error, you should be able to pass the class and move on.  If not, you stay back and take it over.  (Just because someone can cram really well for a test doesn’t mean that they learned anything; though cramming will always be a part of the school experience.)

Now that Mr. Weenig is a Physician, I wonder, with his extra cash, if he’ll ever open up his own school?

I don’t know what you think about the picture above, but, it really doesn’t matter, does it?  I think this is the best (one of many) pictures of a wave.  (Clark Little took this and has many other beautiful shots.)

Because I believe something is the “best” is totally up to me.  Consumer Reports can help me determine the direction I want to go in making a choice about something, but ultimately, it’s me that decides.

Right or wrong, it’s still me.

The story I tell myself if the most important factor in any decision I make.

As for now, I’m glad I made the decision to like Clark Little’s pictures.

There have been a lot of examples of businesses (usually small businesses) that have used Groupon or LivingSocial, et al and have actually come out worse because of it on the financial side of things.  The upside, from what I’ve read, is that they’ve increased their exposure and some have even had return customers.

Both are good things.

I wonder, though, if the increased exposure and returning customers is more the exception and not the rule?

Increased exposure is probably the more reliable metric to bank on.  Though, there are probably many people out there that read what the deal is, don’t think it’s interesting, and move on.

Is that enough “exposure” to count?  What did that two seconds really earn the company?

Getting customers to return has to be considered the creme de la creme.   It has to be.  Why else would someone offer a loss-leader  if they weren’t at least fairly sure they were going to get something else out of that customer?

Why, when I think about selling something heavily discounted, do I think that the chances of gaining a real customer out of this transaction will have a success rate a little better than my chances of winning the lottery?

There has to be many examples out there of companies who have prospered because of Groupon, et al, but I have this feeling that it’s not what would be best for a small company trying to gain more customers who will come back later.

I think the value of a true fan is much greater than a passing fan.

So, should I or shouldn’t I?

Right now, I’m going to say, “Shouldn’t”.

Could things change?

Sure.

Thoughts?

Photo Credit

A tie that looks like a sword.  Pretty cool.

Words from Mohammed are written on there.  (Great idea if you’ve got a test on a particular passage of scripture and you’ve got it there on your chest!)

I found about about this here.

I’m posting about this so that I can go back and read (and re-read) them at a later time.   If you’d like to check them out too, well…I guess I’ll let you.