Employee reward team building activities

I’d like to begin this post with a brief story, one which I’ve often told to my friends and family, but have never committed to ink, digital or otherwise. So here it goes.

Fifteen years ago, I had just started my first semester of a 2-year master’s degree program in Music & Entertainment Business at New York University. I thought at the time that I wanted to enter the music business (something I very quickly changed my mind about, which is why I am where I am today running a company producing team building, NYC and nationwide). But during that first semester, I was bright-eyed and bushy tailed for sure, imagining where this unique program would take me, and dreaming of the possibilities.

One of my classes that introductory semester was called “Production and A&R in the Music Industry.” A&R stands for Artists & Repertoire – the course was designed to provide an overview of the record making process, and how executives (and presumably future executives like ourselves) make hit records. The class was a mix of undergraduate and graduate students, and after a couple of weeks of classes, it was time for our first “big” project, which would be worth a third of our course grade. The assignment: choose any three musical genres, then select three institutions within the entertainment industry (media outlets, awards, etc.) and explain how each is defined by those institutions in a formal research paper. The purpose of the exercise was to illustrate how institutions view genres differently, and how as executives we would need to understand and work within this paradigm.

I liked this assignment, and was actually excited by it – I was also driven by a desire to be first in my class for some reason, and wanted very much to start my program off right by acing my inaugural project of grad school. I dived right in, and decided that I was going to go above and beyond here. I selected my three genres: country, jazz and gospel. I then selected my three institutions: Billboard magazine, Nielsen, and the Grammy Awards. My gut told me I could easily find how all three of these institutions defined my three genres with a quick Google search, and maybe some follow-up research at the library. But no, I was determined to be a star, to stand out – for this project I wasn’t going to settle for secondary sources, it was primary source material all the way!

That meant I was going to have to identify an approach authorities within all three of my institutions, and arrange first-person interviews. This is a daunting task for such high-profile organizations under any circumstances, let alone for some random grad school student with zero connections to these places. I buckled down, did my homework, and got on the phone. And you know what? I did it – I frikkin’ did it! I tracked down chart editors at Billboard, executives at the Grammy Foundation, and various bosses at Nielsen. I approached them cold, and convinced each of them to speak with me “on the record” for my paper about EXACTLY how they and the organizations they represented defined my genres. It was a total coup, and I swear I felt like a million bucks!

I worked my tail off typing the whole thing up into a comprehensive paper of about 15 pages, complete with properly-formatted references and attributions. I even went so far as to take my final printed copy to a print shop, to have it professionally bound and covered. I was absolutely beaming with pride as I brought the finished work into class the morning it was due, and smiled at the professor as I handed it in. I giddily waited until next week, to see what the response would be.

The following week I showed up to class, eager with anticipation to see how much praise I’d get from the surely awe-struck professor. One by one, each student was called up to the professor’s desk to retrieve a “note sheet,” with our grade and comments. A sleepy-eyed, clearly hung over freshman in front of me was called up, then sat down; I looked over his shoulder, and he had gotten an “A.” Emboldened, I said, “Congrats, man – hard paper, right?” To which he turned to me and said, “Nah, bro – I totally did this the night before.” I was caught off-guard, not expecting to hear that – especially when compared to his grade.

Then my name was called, and I went up to retrieve my paper: “B minus.”

I was floored. Totally speechless. I didn’t know what to do, or think, or act. I think I just sat down and stared, completely shocked and embarrassed, not able to process what was happening. The next day I went to visit the professor, to talk about my paper. I explained how hard I had worked on it, how I had gone above and beyond to obtain primary source interviews, and how I had spared no effort to deliver what I thought was the perfect research paper.

“Well, yes you did all of that,” the professor said coolly, “however, you didn’t provide enough of your own opinion.”

“But…it’s a RESEARCH paper!” I countered, “I’m not SUPPOSED to provide my opinion!”

“Yes, but because music is so subjective I wanted to hear more of your voice, instead of the voice of experts. Sorry, the grade stands.”

It was the jerkiest of jerk moves. Not only was all of my hard work and effort for naught, but the punk kid in front of me aced the project, after completely dialing it in. How do you think this little episode made me feel? I was utterly demoralized, and had learned my lesson: I wasn’t going to put in the extra effort anymore, go that extra mile. I’ll tell you, I dialed it back myself after that – WAY back. I wasn’t going to be put in that situation again – why would I? The message had been made clear, and right from the start: don’t kill yourself for something that can be achieved with much less effort, and for which I’ll probably be penalized anyway. For the remainder of that class, I put in the bare minimum – I think I walked away with a B+ for my final grade, which I accepted and moved on.

What a horrible lesson, right?

I’ve thought about this incident many times over the past fifteen years, and I still can’t understand for the life of me what the professor was trying to prove by sinking my paper. Here I was, a graduate student showing extreme initiative, interest and drive, and yet I was told to blow off. Meanwhile, the undergrad who barely did any work breezed in and got an “A.” What was all that about? Surely this professor, a PhD, knew the difference between a well-written paper and a crappy one. Why, then, was I penalized, while the other guy was rewarded?

As a manager of people, I hope that you take the above story to heart. When it comes to employee reward ideas and deeds, ask yourself: is how I dole out rewards reinforcing the behaviors I want to see, over those I don’t? Reward is a HUGE motivator, and if you want to keep seeing the same behavior or improve it, you have to provide the incentive. But be judicious in how you do it, and properly reward the right behaviors and people – lest you achieve the opposite effect!

For another useful article on employee reward, follow this link.