The Science Behind Incentives and Rewards in Shaping Positive Team Behaviors

Gift cards, cash bonuses, and other rewards are more than just nice-to-have incentives. These powerful motivators can increase productivity while keeping your team aligned with their workplace goal. There are many reasons why your business should incorporate rewards into your workplace dynamic. Not only is there scientific evidence to prove the power of rewards, but there are also various ways you can use them in the workplace. 

We’re here to walk you through the benefits of rewards in the workplace and provide innovative five ways to incorporate them into your workplace dynamic. 

Here’s how to use a gamified reward system to your advantage:

The Psychology Behind Gamified Incentives 

It may surprise you there is actual science behind the power of rewards and incentives. These tools can alter your team’s brain chemistry, impact their approach to the workplace dynamic, and improve their decision-making skills. 

Here’s the gamification psychology behind rewards:

Positive Reinforcement 

Rewards are the oldest trick in the book for positive reinforcement and motivational psychology. When your sales team reaches their goals or completes a task, they get a reward for their contributions and are likely to continue mimicking this behavior during working hours. This improves your team’s growth mindset development and helps with aligning rewards with goals. 

Taps Into Their FOMO 

Did you know that 7 out of 10 millennials experience FOMO to some degree? FOMO stands for fear of missing out. If the reward is an experience or a large prize that appeals to a larger audience, it will trigger your team’s FOMO. This will give them that extra boost of motivation they need to stay on task and go the extra mile during the workweek. 

Provides a Dopamine Boost 

Did you know incentives are one of the best innovative behavior-shaping strategies that can provide your team with a dopamine boost? These tools tap into an individual’s brain’s reward system. When they finally reach their goal and get the reward they worked so hard to receive, they’ll get a boost of dopamine. This dopamine boost will keep your team coming back for more. Whenever they know they may receive a reward from a task or a goal, their workweek tasks will associate with pleasure, which can keep your team satisfied and productive during the workweek. 

Influences Your Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation comes from personal interest, while extrinsic motivation comes from external factors. Research suggests immediate rewards can significantly promote both types of motivation in an individual. Everyone is different. Some employees are motivated more by personal success, while others are solely driven by rewards and incentives. Understanding your team’s likes and interests will help you fine-tune your workplace gamification strategies to align with your team’s motivations.

Gamification and Incentives 

There are many ways to inspire motivation through gamification and inceitves. Gamification is the process of incorporating game elements into a non-game context. This process often includes games, leaderboards, and progress bars. Many businesses use gamification for engagement and pair incentives with different game elements to magnify their gamified initiatives. Data and research suggest that gamification can be a powerful tool for motivating employees, customers, and students. 

How to Use Incentives To Create a High-Performing Team Environment

Once you understand the science behind incentives, you’ll need to find ways to use them to your advantage. It’s important to remember that you want the rewards you choose to complement the workplace dynamic, not take away from it. That means you need to find a healthy balance that allows your team to grow professionally while still experiencing the benefits of rewards for their contributions. 

Here’s five team motivation techniques you can infuse with recognition-based incentives.:

Set Goals That Align With Rewards

Every time your team reaches their new personal best, reward them! This is a great way to use positive reinforcement to keep your team engaged with their workweek tasks and motivate them to go above and beyond. 

Every time they reach their goal, make it higher the next month and increase the reward. This will help your team stay aligned with their goals and push them towards their true potential. 

Schedule Monthly Mini Competitions and Games 

Mini competitions are a fun way to inspire friendly competition and keep your team engaged with mundane tasks and projects. When you plan out your monthly competitions and pair them with rewards, it is a great way to generate excitement in the workplace and tap into your team’s competitive side. 

When planning regular competitions, look for ways to even the playing field every month. If you’re always focused on revenue or numbers, it can discourage your underperformers. Instead, consider planning games that focus on:

• Booked Demos 
• Prospecting Calls 
• Prospecting Emails 
• Deals Closed 
• Renewals 
• Upsells 

This is also a great way to remind your team about other tasks on their plate and help them adjust their approach to everyday tasks. 

Spin a Prize Wheel 

A prize wheel is a great team performance enhancement that will keep your team engaged during weekly all-hands meetings. It’s a great way to even the playing field and show your team they can earn a reward for reasons that aren’t always revenue-based. With a prize wheel, you can choose who gets to spin. 

Spinify is a sales gamification tool that has prize wheels. You can pick random individuals to spin or the top five performers for the week – the choice is yours. With this platform, you can include as many prizes and rewards as possible. Whether it’s something small like a team member getting the best parking spot for the week or tickets to a sporting event, our platform allows your leadership to customize the prizes and incentives to align with your team’s needs. 

Use Visuals to Keep Them Motivated

The truth is that sometimes rewards and incentives are not enough. Simply telling your team that they’ll win a cash bonus or a gift card won’t be enough to keep them motivated throughout the week. 

With game elements like leaderboards and progress bars, you can ensure the rewards are always top of mind for your team. When they clock in to start their day, they’ll look at the current leaderboard standings or their personalized progress bar to know how close or far they are from reaching their goals. 

Build Out a Recognition Program 

A recognition program needs structure, a defined frequency, and prizes. For this program to work, you need to educate your team and keep them in the know about the prizes and rewards they can win. There are many ways to build out a recognition program. This includes:

Performance Based: Reward team when they reach or exceed their weekly, monthly, or annual goals.

• Point-Based: Hand out points throughout the week and allow your team to cash out these points for a reward of their choice. 
• Manager-Based: Managers and leaders hand-pick employees at the end of the month to recognize and hand out performance-driven rewards. 
• Employee-Based: Peers freely nominate team members to receive a reward throughout the month. At the end of the month, the nominated employees spin a prize wheel to see who wins. 

The best way to improve your reward system’s effectiveness is to get creative! A well-thought-out recognition program has the power to tap into your team’s intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. You need to take some time to consider their needs and what works best for them.

Use Incentives and Rewards to Your Advantage With Spinify

Spinify is a sales gamification platform that uses game elements and incentives to help create a culture of cultivating excellence and positive behaviour reinforcement.. With our platform, you can find innovative ways to integrate gamification into everything you do while inspiring motivation and engagement.. Whether you’re trying to motivate your customer service team or your sales team, we’re here to help you develop and implement a strategy that meets the needs of your team. 
Experience the power of gamification and Spinify with a Product Tour today.