Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Incentives
Our basic strategy for managing workers can be summarized in six words: Do this and you'll get that.
Join us February 11 for a video presentation by career analyst Dan Pink examining the puzzle of employee motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don't: Traditional rewards aren't always as effective as we think. Author Pink's discussion is based in part on the book Punished by Rewards, that argues while manipulating people with incentives seems to work in the short run, it is a strategy that ultimately fails and can even do lasting harm. The author contends that rewards and punishments are both ways of manipulating behavior and our workplaces will continue to decline until we begin to question our reliance on a theory of motivation derived from laboratory animals. Drawing from hundreds of studies, Kohn maintains that people actually do inferior work when they are enticed with money, grades, or other incentives.
The video will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Austin HR Consultant Alice Dendinger and featuring two call centers sharing their approach to employee motivation and incentives.
$30 members / $35 non-members 
College of Call Center Excellence comes to Austin March 9-12, 2010!
For managers looking to enhance their skills and insights on a wide range of subjects, there is no better program then The College of Call Center Excellence Management Certification Program. The course includes both lectures and case studies that were developed by Dr. Jon Anton, Director of Research at Purdue, internationally recognized as a leader in Call 
Center Management. Class size allows one-on-one interaction with the instructors and enables you to network effectively with colleagues and industry peers. >>>more
-IN MEMORY
Long time ACCA supporter and member Karen Sopko 
passed recently from leiomyosarcoma, a rare cancer. Karen saw herself as a fear-fighter, a person whose creativity, knowledge and empathy helped people trying to learn something new and scary. Always, she exhibited courage, kindness and an enthusiasm for exploration that meant so much to the people who knew her. “We are saddened by losing her so young, but infinitely greater for having known her.”
Donations may be made in lieu of flowers to www.wondersandworries.org. Wonders & Worries helps children and their families cope when a parent or caregiver has a chronic or life-threatening illness. Wonders & Worries counsels children and give parents the resources and support to help their family work through such a crisis. All Wonders & Worries services are offered free of charge to people of any age, gender, socio-economic status and ethnicity – and are available in English and Spanish. Please check out their website to support this organization in honor of ACCA friend Karen Sopko.
INDUSTRY ARTICLES
Southwest Airlines and Case-Mate on Leveraging Social Media to Gather Customer Feedback
Navigating the social Web is one of the most powerful ways for your brand to act as a listening board. At this year’s 2009 Customer Feedback Week conference, Steve Latham, founder of marketing agency Spur Interactive, gathered the crème de la crème of social media brand strategy to talk about best practices in leveraging social media to capture customer feedback. The panel included Paula Berg, Manager of Emerging Media for Southwest Airlines >>>more
Download Tim Montgomery's Latest article on Customer Loyalty
Watch That Tone Of Voice
Your Mom was right. It's not what you say, but how you say it. Several times while I was out shopping recently, I've been told things that frankly, weren't that bad, but the tone of voice was so wrong. I walked away not wanting to do business with that company anymore. It reminded me of that game we played a long time ago. You take one sentence and emphasize each word one at a time every time you say the sentence. Something like this:
- I love my job.
- I love my job.
- I love my job.
- I love my job. >>more
Are You Coaching, Mentoring Or Training Your Employees? Distinctions New Managers Need to Know
In all my years training managers how to coach their staff, common misconceptions always arise regarding what we actually mean by coaching in a business setting.
If you are planning to improve your coaching skills with your employees to help develop their potential, here’s what you need to know first.
Mentoring is not Coaching although there are many similarities.
Like Coaching, Mentoring can be formal or informal. Like Coaching, it’s a positive relationship, often between a more experienced person and a less experienced person. Like Coaching, Mentoring is also done with respect and wisdom and is valued by the other person.
>>more
Working at home is no piece of cake. Most people understand that, but they do not really get why it can be so challenging. Outlined here are the five biggest challenges to working at home. These challenges will not stop a person from working at home but can cause a lot of problems and ruin any chance for making it in the work at home environment. >>more
How to Give Balanced Employee Assessments
Employee assessments can be a necessary evil of working in a management position. No one enjoys having to analyze and criticize another individual’s performance or decisions, especially when the results may be unfavorable. The key to making assessments a positive experience for everyone involved is to keep them fair and balanced.
By opening up the floor to your employee to provide their feedback, both your employee and your company stand to benefit from assessments. >> more
-MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
Your membership helps ACCA continue to produce meaningful education and networking opportunities for contact centers in the central Texas area. We are an all volunteer organization and we depend on our members to keep ACCA thriving.
ACCA is a 501c6 non-profit organization geared towards fostering the solutions that meet the needs of the central Texas contact center industry through networking, professional development and community leadership.
If you are unable to successfully complete any of the website functions, please notify info@austincontactcenter.org.