GAMED: Why targets and incentives fail and how to fix them

by Bernie Smith

Targets and incentives can drive breathtakingly positive the moon landings, the eradication of smallpox, or the repair of the ozone layer, for example.

They can also have a dark side that can put executives in prison, bring global businesses to their knees, and even cause wholesale loss of life.

Using practical examples and case studies, this book walks you through the essential steps of designing robust, effective, and credible targets and incentives for your organisation. The approach is also perfect for selecting meaningful Key Results for OKRs.This book is for people tasked with creating new, effective, performance targets, OKRs or incentivesNeed help fixing existing performance targets, OKRs or incentivesWant a structured and practical design frameworkThis book will help targets, key results and incentives that align with your strategyBuild engagement with your target ownersTest your targets, key results and incentives rigorously for unexpected outcomes and dangerous loopholesGAMED includes free access to valuable notes, tools, and templates.

Genres: Nonfiction

293 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 2, 2021

Reviews

[Ronald J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good look at how targets and incentives can create unintended consequences as they are almost surely going to be gamed by the scamps known as human beings. KPIs also play a role, though the author has written a previous book about those. The book explains his model for establishing, testing and refining incentives and targets. There is a lot of useful suggestions, and some great stories of how incentives get gamed. What you can measure you can manage is a cliche, but more importantly, it's not true. How do you measure the effectiveness of management, for example? More insultingly, that phrase is wrongly attributed to Peter Drucker, who never wrote it, said it, or believed it. What he said was, you will get what you measure. And you'll get it good and hard, even if it ruins the organization (Wells Fargo Bank is a great example that Smith discusses). His model is a bit convoluted and perhaps too long, but there are some useful tools to help you think through any targets and incentives your organization is trying to set.