Perspectives  Dallas Chapter of ASTD Membership Newsletter  -  October 2006  << Table of Contents <<

 Sweet Success

 

By Shirley Lee

 

It’s that time of year when the sugar high is on the rise.  Everywhere you look there is CANDY, CANDY, CANDY!  With that in mind, I thought I’d share a simple reward and recognition program that uses candy as the basis for the program.  What you do is find a candy that has a name that fits the occasion or can be easily revised to match.

 

“How can this be a reward program?” you might ask me. 

 

Well, once upon a time, we were working hard to get all our systems documented in a way that was easy for users to understand.  One of our team members worked very hard to get our undocumented Project Administration (PA) program tested and a guide developed.  Upon completion of this task, which no one else wanted, we recognized him at a staff meeting by having our department manager give him a "PA Way" award.  The award was a PAYDAY bar with a large matching “W” taped over the center “YD”.  He loved it!  Even after he finished off the bar, the wrapper hung on his bulletin board for months and he told everyone who entered his office what it meant.

 

“So what other ideas are there for awards?” you come back with.  

 

Try using candy to promote company slogans, initiatives, or as recognition alternative.  Do this by giving them out when you see someone doing things right.  Use the candy as a way to promote following company or department desired attitudes and behavior.  Such as:

·        “Help out in a Crunch” (using Nestlé’s CRUNCH Bar)

·        “That’s a million dollar <or grand> idea” (using MILLIONAIRE or 100 GRAND candy bar)

·        “Be a Life Saver, help out” (using LIFESAVER candies or mints)

·        “Skor one for customer service” (using SKOR candy bar)

·        “Zero defects in quality” (using ZERO candy bar)

·        “Best over all – Bar None” (using BAR NONE candy bar)

·        “Thanks for Mounds of Ideas” (using MOUNDS candy bar)

You can even use a Hershey’s KISS as a thank you to speakers at meetings and seminars that embrace the K.I.S.S. philosophy of Keep It Short Sir (or Sister).   Use a SNICKERS candy bar as a “Best Joke" award.  Or give boxes of NERDS to people who learn new computer skills.  There’s also the WHATCHAMACALLIT bar, if you can find that candy bar locally – you can use it for almost anything!

 

“What are some training examples?” you may ask. 

 

I often give SMARTIES out to training participants that answer another participant’s question before I can in a class.  Another example was in a computer class where I taught a complicated LMS to new users.  Since the classes were large, I had a few experienced users as assistants in the classroom.  We duped the assistants as “Tootsies” and they each wore a smock with a pocket.  If a Tootsie was called upon to help someone who got lost or could not “get it to work”, then they consoled them with a TOOTSIE POP from their pocket before helping them out.  We also tossed out TOOTSIE ROLLS as rewards in the same class to anyone that asked the instructor a question. 

 

Check out the Halloween display at your local store and come up with your own creative ideas!  Let me know if you find something that really works for you and your company.

 

About the Author:  Shirley Lee is a consultant/facilitator who helps organizations increase employee, communications, and system capacity to produce results. She has been a member of Dallas ASTD for five years and currently serves as VP of Communications.  Shirley designs and facilitates a variety of team building, problem solving, and productivity improvement events.   Her programs include managing time, facilitating meetings, project management simplified, workspace or group organization, the problem solving process, and team-building.  More information on her is available on her website: http://www.geocities.com/slee_rightfit/ or by calling her at 214-457-5736.