The results from my recent survey on what readers wanted to see on this site were interesting.

Far and away the most valuable thing you all said you wanted to see was … Case Histories.

Case histories about what works, and what doesn’t.  And these two topics weren’t #1 and #2 by a small margin – but by a HUGE margin.

And that got me thinking.

We Want To Know What Other People Are Doing

I know – Duh.

But really, all of us want to see the experiments that people in our same position, our same function are doing for a few reasons.  We want to double check our thinking (no, you’re not crazy – someone else is doing it.)  We want to reduce our risk (it didn’t work – avoid that option.)  And to see what IS working (I can duplicate their results.)

We all want to know what’s going on.  I do it every day when I read my 300+ RSS feeds, check twitter and google+.  You do it when you read the articles on this site.  We need to know.

Don’t Tell Me Who’s #1 – Tell Me WHY They Are #1

Most if not all incentive and rewards programs (more predominate in sales incentive programs) include some sort of leader board that lists out the top performers.  Sometimes they include statistics and numbers – sometimes just relative positions.  This is much easier when there are specific goals ie:  100% of goal, 80% of goal, etc.  In some recognition programs companies will show who has earned the monthly drawing from the Peer-2-Peer program or the “Manager’s Choice Award for May.”

Regardless of the program, there is someone people can go to see who’s in the lead.

But the real value isn’t the list.

The real value – as you so strongly told me in the survey – is HOW they got in the lead.

Profile Your Top Performers

What I see less of (and in many cases, NONE of) is a profile of the leaders. 

What I don’t see is an explanation of WHY they earned the award, or WHY they are at 99% of goal two months into a 12 month program.

There is no real value in the ranking.

The value is in the reason for the ranking!

Just like all of you who wanted to see the do’s and don’ts around reward and recognition programs, your participants, your audience, wants to see the do’s and don’ts of being successful too.  They want to know how they can be on the list – or at the top of the list.

Next program, do me a favor.  Each time you advertise the “Leader Board,” add a couple of interviews with the folks listed and ask them what they did to get there – ask them what they DIDN’T do.

Provide your participants with “case histories” so to speak so they can then go and apply that information to help them secure their spot on the Top 10 List in the future.

Remember – they are just like you… they want to reduce risk and increase their chances of success.  Help them out.