Concept
If-Then Rewards
If-then rewards are incentives promised in advance and tied to a result ('if you do this, then you get that'). Daniel H. Pink argues that they help on routine tasks with clear steps but can backfire on work that needs judgement and creativity.
In Drive, Pink separates algorithmic tasks, which follow known steps to one answer, from heuristic tasks, which have no recipe. An if-then reward sharpens focus, which helps on the first kind. On the second, the same narrowing can hurt. His central example is the candle problem: when Sam Glucksberg offered cash for a fast solution to a puzzle that needs a wide view, the rewarded group took longer on average. Pink gathers other findings, among them Edward Deci's puzzle experiments and Teresa Amabile's work on commissioned art, and lists the risks as seven deadly flaws, including weaker intrinsic motivation, less creativity, cheating and short-term thinking. His alternatives are fair base pay, and for creative work 'now that' rewards: recognition given unexpectedly after the work, preferably as praise and useful feedback. How large and general the undermining effect is remains debated among researchers, so the safest reading is narrow: a large, expected, contingent reward is riskiest on interesting work that needs judgement.
A real-life example
A software agency in Eskişehir paid its designers a bonus for every concept a client approved. Concepts became safer and more alike. The agency kept salaries where they were, dropped the per-concept bonus and instead gave the team an unannounced day off after a difficult launch, with the client's feedback read out. The next round of concepts was more varied.
How to use it
- 1Before attaching a reward to a task, decide whether it has a known recipe or needs judgement.
- 2For creative work, move recognition from a promise before the work to thanks after it.
- 3When a fine or fee replaces a shared rule, check whether it has turned an obligation into a price.