Incentive Travel FAQ
Incentive Travel For Beginners
What is an Incentive Program?
An incentive program is a planned activity designed to motivate people to achieve predetermined organizational objectives. Put simply, it's a plan of action to get people to perform in a certain way. To make it happen, you need a well-coordinated effort that includes all of the following elements:
- concrete objectives for all participants
- methods for measuring performance
- regular communication to all involved
- clearly defined awards
Attaining the objectives of the incentive program naturally involves people at all levels of an organization.
Objectives are the measurable goals and can take aim at a multitude of areas:
- improving sales
- boosting quality
- raising productivity
- increasing market share
- expanding loyalty of reps and customers
- lifting morale
- fostering teamwork and communication
- instilling better work habits
- ensuring safety
- decreasing absenteeism
- reducing turnover
Motivational programs can target almost any organizational performance - selling, buying, thinking, suggesting, attendance, safety awareness, morale and profits!
Incentives work because people want them. They desire recognition, need to feel a part of the team, want to do a good job. But people, are only human. Long-term personal goals fall prey to daily or weekly frustrations. People then find it hard to meld personal goals with their organization's goals. And some people may have trouble accomplishing individual goals at all.
In all cases, excitement, performance, and interest must be maintained.
Incentives provide concrete rewards for quality performance that is consistent with short- and long-term organizational objectives. They present visible goals with visible acknowledgment.
Competition is another part of incentive programs. Depending on the way the program is structured, the competition can occur between individuals or teams. Or, the program can be designed to foster an individual's competitive spirit to surpass personal goals. In other words, incentive programs can be structured to develop specific purposes.