Trusting people’s good intentions

When good intentions conflict with incentives....always expect the incentives to win.

It can feel noble to trust others to make the right choice. And trust their good intentions will win out. But if it leads you to ignore the incentives at play, you are destined to fail.

Here’s how incentives work.

Every group of people has methods for how people are rewarded. The reward might be status, control, power, money, title, safety, affirmation, or ease. Your team is constantly rewarding people with these things and more. Your team is constantly striving for these things.

Incentives are about how your team explicitly or implicitly gives people those rewards. A few of these are obvious to everyone. Show up to work, do you work, and get a paycheck. But a lot of incentives hide under the surface. Nearly every interaction your team has with each other or their work is governed by the incentives available.

Good incentives mean your team is rewarded for virtuous actions - the behaviors your want.

Bad incentives mean your team is rewarded for negative actions - the behaviors you don’t want.

Couldn’t we just trust people to do the right thing?

Here’s the thing.

Ignoring the incentives at play and trusting people to act virtuously is dangerous path. When good intentions are in conflict with incentives....always expect the incentives to win.

If your team (unknowingly) rewards people who backstab and manipulate to get credit, that behavior will flourish. The virtuous people who refuse to play that game will leave.

If your team rewards people who work the longest hours to the detriment of their personal health or quality of life, that behavior will increase. And the people who refuse to live for work only will quit.

On and on it goes.

Incentives will guide your team far more than intentions.

I’m here,

Sawyer