Striking the Balance The Integration of Offsite Business Meetings and Incentive Group Travel
Allan Schweyer and Lynn Randall
May, 2013
IRF:%The%Integration%of%Offsite%Business%Meetings%and%Incentive%Group%Travel
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ...... 1 Introduction ...... 4 Trends in Combined Offsite Business Meetings and Incentive Group Travel …………...5 The Organization’s Perspective ………………………………………………………………8 The Participant's Perspective ………………………………………………………………..12 Best Practices: The Design of Combined Business Meetings and Incentive Travel …..20 Key Findings and Conclusions ………………………………………………………………24
Addendum 1: The Designer's Toolkit …………………………………………………….…26 Addendum 2: Measuring the Effectiveness of Combined Offsite Business Meetings and Incentive Group Travel ……………………………………………………………………….36 Appendix A: Acknowledgements - Expert Panelists and Interviewees ………………….38 Appendix B: Detailed Participant Survey Findings ………………………………………..39 Appendix C: Detailed Practitioner Survey Findings …………..…………………………..43 Appendix D: About the IRF ………………………………………………………………….51
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Executive Summary
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Most organizations (60%) offer travel rewards to top performers and nearly all (90%) conduct offsite business meetings. Since the “Great Recession,” interest in combining business meetings with incentive group travel programs has accelerated. The visceral reaction to the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and the accompanying government bailout of large financial institutions brought intense scrutiny on those companies that received assistance. Specifically, the “AIG Effect” 1 highlighted incentive travel and its perceived extravagance − especially for companies that accepted government money. The practice of including business meetings in incentive group travel programs is nothing new − organizations have been doing so for decades. However, it is widely believed that many more organizations are now combining the two in response to the negative perception of incentive travel brought on by the AIG effect, and/or for tax reasons. This research was conducted late last year in order to examine the trend and determine whether the combination should be considered a best practice. Our research suggests that the combination of meetings and incentive events has been adopted by about half of US organizations as of late 2012. Yet the reasons for combining the two may be surprising. Only 10 percent do so to save money, reap tax benefits or to address the criticism surrounding incentive group travel. By contrast, more than four times as many (42%) do so in order to maximize their investment in meetings and travel rewards and/or or to take advantage of having high performers in the same place and at the same time as top executives (the remainder do so for a combination of all of the above reasons or they don’t know). For those organizations that don’t combine offsite business meetings with incentive group travel, less than 7 percent of them have tried the combination and reversed the approach after experiencing poor results. 42 percent have never tried it either because it has never occurred to them, or for organizational reasons they don’t know. A small but significant group − about a fifth of respondents − have considered and rejected the idea without ever trying it. Only about 10% of more than 600 respondents in our participant survey2 had participated in a combined incentive group travel/offsite business meeting program. Nonetheless, their feedback and insights are telling. From the participants’ perspective, attending business meetings during their trip is not a universally bad idea – indeed, far from it. That said, reward earners continue to value the attractiveness of the location for their incentive travel reward and the simple fact of being recognized as the most motivating aspects of earning the reward. Participants rated fun, the destination and the quality of the resort as the top three most important aspects of a travel reward. By contrast, having executives on the trip was ranked as the second least important factor of nine. It is
1 The AIG Effect, Mark Lewis, Forbes.com. February 16, 2010 (http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/16/aig-business-travel-leadership-meetings-10-corporate- conferences.html) 2 606 of 1,173 survey respondents answered question 6 in our Participant Survey: “Have you participated (been selected for) a group travel reward in the past? (i.e., you earned a trip, along with other high performers) or have you participated in an offsite business/sales meeting in the past?”
IRF:%The%Integration%of%Offsite%Business%Meetings%and%Incentive%Group%Travel Research Methodology informative that the opportunity to network with other high performers and with senior executives ranked only above “time away from the office” in terms of Original Research for motivation for earning the reward. this paper was conducted between August and Yet despite participants’ low ranking of networking and time spent with October, 2012. In that executives compared to other elements of a reward trip, most welcome the timeframe, two surveys insertion of at least one business meeting into their travel. A full third of were developed and respondents believe that “a meeting” during their trip would make the experience launched and two “Delphi” better for them and the organization. Some are less welcoming of business panels were conducted with a total of fifteen meetings (23%) but still agree that it’s a good idea, if mainly for the company. experts. Only about 20 percent believe the combination is a bad one for both the company and the reward earners, and of those that had participated in a The first survey was a combined incentive travel/offsite business meeting program in the past, less than “Practitioner Survey,” 6 percent felt it didn’t work well – almost 95 percent said that it was either a which was sent to several thousand meeting good combination or a nice way to recognize top performers in front of planners, rewards and peers and executives. incentives designers, Reward earners appear to accept and even prefer at least one business meeting managers and executives as part of their reward travel as long as the meetings are meaningful and across more than twenty industries and all sectors beneficial to their work. As might be expected, the “practitioners” of combined of the North American offsite business meetings and incentive group travel believe even more strongly economy. 223 participated in the benefits of adding a business meeting to an incentive travel program. For in our survey. In addition, example, our practitioner survey respondents were about five times less likely fifteen experienced than participants to express doubt about whether offsite business meetings have meeting and incentive an impact on job performance (see Appendices B and C). Moreover, less than 7 travel planners were interviewed in panels or percent of practitioner respondents had stopped combining business meetings individually in the same with incentive travel while 19 percent of participant respondents who had timeframe. experienced the combination did not believe it worked well. To gain a perspective on Despite their openness to having business meetings as part of incentive travel, it reward earners, more remains true that reward travel earners are more reluctant to embrace business than twenty thousand meetings during their travel than is the leadership. By all accounts, however, a salespeople, sales significant majority of high achievers welcome a balanced, structured opportunity managers, executives and to network with their peers and executives, and to participate in meaningful non-sales professionals discussions about the business with peers and senior executives. The better were sent our “Participant Survey” in aligned the meetings are to the expectations and wants of the earners, and the the same timeframe. In better explained they are, the more receptive and engaged will be the total, 1,174 responded. participants. Secondary Research According to our surveys and the results of our expert Delphi panels, included a review of prior organizations that actively follow up on the ideas and suggestions made during research relevant to the meetings and then communicate subsequent actions and decisions back to the topic, some of which is participants, can expect that business meetings combined with incentive travel cited throughout the paper. will be better received in subsequent years.
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To be effective, combined incentive travel and business meeting designers must possess skillsets from both professions. Meeting professionals require an understanding of reward and recognition strategy – what needs to be included to have a successful incentive program. Incentive and recognition professionals should have logistical planning skills – selecting the venue, managing the meeting space, logistics, etc. All designers must have a good understanding of the organization’s culture in order to create a combined program that will be at least minimally successful. To succeed overall, however, they must also think about reward earners as individuals and appreciate that one size won’t fit all. Program designers told us that in their view, the top two drivers that optimize the impact of a combined event are to ensure that the incentive reward attendees feel recognized, and to design the [meeting] content so that it is meaningful and relevant. Somewhat surprisingly, the quality of the hotel or resort was a distant fourth in importance. This might mean that even three and four-star properties have an opportunity to capture some of the combined program market if they excel in their support of the other drivers. In general, organizations should consider the combination of business meetings with incentive travel a “best practice.” But the goal of any organization that combines business meetings with incentive travel rewards must be to turn the meeting(s) from a perceived obligation into a real reward. Having top performers together with executives presents an opportunity to generate useful ideas and feedback for the company. However, it is critical that the meetings present an even greater perceived professional benefit (i.e. reward) than the alternative activities reward earners could be doing, in an exotic location, with their spouse or partner. A tall order indeed – perhaps even impossible for some organizations depending on their culture – but one that many of the organizations we spoke with for this research have achieved.
Definitions
Incentive Travel is: “a motivational tool to enhance productivity or achieve other business objectives. Participants qualify for the travel award based on achieving the level of performance required by the program.”
~ (Incentive Research Foundation, 2006).
Meeting is: ‘‘a gathering of three or more people who agree to assemble for a purpose ostensibly related to the functioning of an organization or group”(Schwartzman 61). Business meetings normally take place for individuals to gather to share information, debate or deliberate on issues and to arrive at decisions, while incentive travel programs are developed to reward employees who have invested extra efforts at work to achieve established goals.
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Introduction Participant Survey Respondent ______You’ve worked hard all year to reach and surpass your goals. You’ve done so well “I think it is a great in fact, that you are recognized as among your organization’s very best performers, incentive for top performers, it can be a earning you a reward trip to celebrate your accomplishments with the top great collaboration executives and other high achievers in a beautiful resort in Costa Rica. You’ll be opportunity.” there a week with your partner, and there’s plenty to do − everything from snorkeling and sailing to hiking, beachcombing and fine dining. There are even Expert Panelist business meetings planned so that you can talk strategy with the CEO and other senior executives. In fact each morning, half-day business meetings are “It’s where key relationships are made. scheduled, and you’re strongly “encouraged” to attend. Sound like fun? Would you It’s very important from feel rewarded or cheated? a career perspective to Your answer likely depends on the culture of your organization, who you are and be in the “inner circle” what you value but even more so on how those business meetings are presented of a company, and going on the trip is the best and organized. From the organization’s perspective, having dozens of the way to put yourself in company’s best performers all in one place at one time is an opportunity not to be that inner circle. It’s the missed. Why not get the senior leadership in the room with top performers to talk ultimate opportunity to about the organization’s customers, its strategies and its future? While good for the interact with our company, isn’t this also good for top performers? Wouldn’t you rather be building leadership team and the relationships and boosting your career than relaxing and having fun? other top contributors on a personal, social Over the past several years, the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) has received basis. People stay with questions from its constituents about whether or not combining offsite business our company because of meetings with incentive group travel is a best practice and if so, how the the friendships that are combination should be designed for the greatest benefit of reward earners and the formed and nurtured on these trips.” organization. In response, the IRF commissioned this research in 2012. Between August and October, 2012, 223 meeting planners, rewards and incentives ~ Michael Berger, designers, managers and executives across more than twenty industries Insperity participated in our survey. In addition, fifteen experienced meeting and incentive Participant Survey travel planners were interviewed in the same timeframe. Respondent To gain a perspective on reward earners, thousands of salespeople, sales managers, executives and non-sales professionals were sent surveys in the “Not a big fan - incentive travel should summer and fall of 2012. 1,174 responded. be about fun – life’s too In total, our surveys and interviews involved more than 1,400 people (almost short – you can have entirely from the United States). They provided insights across a range of more business meetings than twenty factors related to offsite business meetings, incentive group travel, and anytime.” the combination of the two. The results are presented below.
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Trends in Combined Offsite Business Practitioner Survey Meetings and Incentive Group Travel Respondent
For many hotels, resorts and other business meeting and incentive travel “We have held and destinations, demand dropped off precipitously with the recession of 2008-09. promoted such meetings [combined Despite stagnant economic growth since then, however, rooms and resorts are meetings with incentive starting to fill up again. In the MPI and IMEX group 2012 Business Barometer US travel] for the past 50 Annual Edition study, meeting professionals predicted a 2.9 percent increase in the years regardless of the number of meetings this year (2013) compared to last – up 2.8 percent in the U.S., economy or popularity compared to 3.3 percent in Canada and 3.2 percent in Europe. of such events. Their ability to promote peak More than 57% of our 221 “practitioner” survey respondents stated that their performance, learning organization offers incentive group travel rewards. And while the recession of and collaboration are self-evident.” 2008, along with heavy criticism for “excessive” rewards, put a severe damper on incentive travel for several years, the New York Times reported in early 2011 that Expert Panelists the tide had turned. The Times article cited a Maritz report which stated that 2011 incentive trips had already reached 80 percent of entire 2010 volume by the end of “Joint incentive/meeting February 2011.3 The same article also stated that trips were becoming slightly strategies are not new. I more austere, reflecting findings from IRF research released in 2012, which found was incorporating serious business that per person budgets for incentive travel were still dropping as of last year4. meeting content into incentives 15 plus years Between March and September of 2012, IRF survey respondents shared an ago. The trend will 5 increasingly negative outlook on the impact of the economy on their programs. Yet continue because it can the same report found that 31 percent believed that their incentive reward budget be very effective at would increase in 2013 versus 21 percent who believed it would decrease.6 increasing the impact of either pure incentives or Despite recent program cuts, the impact of incentive travel appears to be as strong pure meetings.” as ever. In a 2013 research brief, Aberdeen Research found that 100 percent of ~ Todd Hanson, ROI of organizations that it defined as “best in class” used incentive travel rewards.7 In Engagement research for this paper, 260 of 278 combined participant and practitioner respondents (about 94 percent) stated that incentive group travel impacts performance positively (see Appendices A and B). Indeed, an average return on investment of $4 to every $1 spent is a commonly cited outcome of incentive travel programs.8
In terms of combined meetings and incentive group travel, 48 percent of 221 respondents to our practitioner survey said their firms offered the combined
3 The Return of Incentive Travel, Sara Welch, New York Times, March 7, 2011 4 2012 Trends in Rewards & Recognition (http://theirf.org/research/content/6085946/2012-trends-in-rewards-recognition/) 5 2012 Fall Pulse Survey: Incentive Industry Trends (see: http://theirf.org/research/content/6090730/2012-fall-pulse-survey-incentive-industry-trends/) 6 ibid 7 Non-Cash Incentives: Best Practices to Optimize Sales Effectiveness, Aberdeen Group, February, 2013 8 http://www.ustravel.org/sites/default/files/09-10-09_Oxford%20Economics.pdf
5 IRF:%The%Integration%of%Offsite%Business%Meetings%and%Incentive%Group%Travel programs. Though this may represent an increase over previous years, the Participant Survey combination, as noted above, is nothing new or novel. Our expert panelists and Respondent interviewees were unanimous in asserting that the combination has been taking place for years, if not decades. “It’s usually a good experience. The travel Nonetheless, recent research indicates that the trend toward combined business part can be a challenge meetings and incentive group travel is significant. A 2012 SITE International/MPI depending on how far away the meeting is Foundation study involving 199 respondents found that more than 60% of meeting from your area.” and incentive planners surveyed believed that the inclusion of business meetings and incentive travel would either increase or increase substantially going forward, Expert Panelist while only 6 percent predicted a decline. Moreover, in excess of two-thirds expected more of the combination in 2013.9 “In my experience, meetings have always The convergence of business meetings and incentive travel may also be maturing been part of incentive as it grows in popularity. The joint MPI/Site Foundation Study referred to above, for travel. They were not as important and formal at example, showed that 37 percent of planners have seen their roles increase in first until stakeholders planning other events (either incentives or meetings), with 67 percent anticipating realized how important 10 even more convergence within the next year. The combination of skills into one they can be when you hybrid professional could suggest a realization that for combined incentive travel have your top 10% of and business meetings to be effective, a planner with a broad range of knowledge performers in one place, and skills across two formerly distinct occupations might be needed. Of course, a together at the same cost savings motive might also be at play. time – what a phenomenal opportunity to engage them in the While the trend toward the combination of business meetings and incentive group strategy of the travel appears to exist, it isn’t all one-way. As noted above, 90 percent of organization, to get their organizations we surveyed – and 100 percent of organizations of more than 50,000 ideas and buy in and get employees – conduct offsite business meetings. And while it is three times more them to help solve common for organizations to add business meetings to incentive travel than the issues, mentor others, other way around (see appendix B) some organizations are leveraging their offsite etc., that has become a meetings by adding a reward element.11 An offsite meeting that might have taken big part of it.” place, for example, in Chicago in February, might now be conducted in South ~Dahlton Bennington, Florida where a half-day meeting might be followed by dining, entertainment or Bennington Meetings & other evening activities. The entire day and trip qualifies for a tax write-off and the Motivation. meeting can be used, in part, to reward and recognize high performers.
9"The$Convergence$of$Incentive$Travel$and$Meeting$Planning$Activities,$SITE"International"Foundation"and"the"MPI"Foundation,"2011" 10"Ibid" 11 Please"note"that"the"focus"of"this"paper"is"on"incentive"travel"programs"to"which"business"meetings"are"added."Our"findings"and"recommendations"do"not" necessarily"apply"to"the"reverse"combination.
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According to most of the expert panelists we interviewed for this paper, pure Expert Panelist incentive travel rewards are a thing of the past in their organizations or those they provide services too. In some cases, however, pure incentive travel is held “The leaders at FedEx inviolable. In those organizations, the gains are so significant and the “buzz” are very passionate around the incentive travel program so energizing, that leaders won’t consider about keeping reward risking the program for the sake of adding business meetings. Nonetheless, trends travel pure and separate from business of any suggest that the combination is accelerating, and even among organizations that kind. We hold many do not believe in the combination, social gatherings and informal networking other business events between fellow high performers and with senior executives are almost always on and meetings, including the agenda or facilitated in some way. The temptation to take advantage of the offsite sales convergence of the organization’s top performers and senior leaders in one place conferences. But at the same time seems a very strong one to resist completely. rewards and incentives must be kept separate” Nonetheless, while the trend may be clear for incentive travel involving employees, ~ Bobbi Landreth, it appears to be far less prevalent where the reward earners are high achievers FedEx from among an organization’s “channel partners”12 Though not the focus of this paper, in these cases business meetings may be less well-received when added to “We are seeing some an incentive travel program. business meetings being booked in nice places. They aren’t all business meeting but “The opportunity for us almost completely disappeared the last some element of recognition/reward. few years. [In the past] we might have been the venue for the final They happen in the US dinner or a special event as part of a reward trip, yet it almost and are domestic, not disappeared for Vancouver. Now we are seeing it resurge international. They dramatically and we’re also seeing a business component every provide a nicer experience in a nice time. Despite this, the meeting space sits unused most of the day place with activities in because it’s just one session and usually no more. The trip is the afternoon and really about the reward.” evening.” ~ Todd Zint, NFP ~ Claire Smith, Vancouver Convention Center
12 “Channel Partner” refers to organizations that perform services for other organizations, these might include re-sellers, suppliers, distributors, etc. It is common practice for organizations to incentivize channel partners with group travel rewards.
7 IRF:%The%Integration%of%Offsite%Business%Meetings%and%Incentive%Group%Travel
The Organization’s Perspective Expert Panelist ______“We definitely have groups combining In all, 89.1 percent of firms that responded to our practitioner survey conduct offsite business meetings and 57.5 percent offer incentive group travel rewards. meetings and incentives. It's something These numbers jump to 96 percent and 63 percent respectively for organizations my clients have been of more than 100 employees (see appendix B). Those that combine offsite doing for 15 years. 15 business meetings with incentive group travel constitute 48 percent of our survey years ago we realized: respondents regardless of company size. Of those that don’t combine – the Hey, we are getting our majority at 52 percent – only 6.7 percent have tried the combination but top performers together, discontinued the practice because they were disappointed with the results why not meet for a few (Figures 1 and 2.) hours on one of the program days? When a number of our clients Figure 1: Reasons For Combining Offsite Business Meetings with Incentive embraced global Group Travel13 incentives, we saw we had the top performers from all over the world, so why not meet? I would say this trend is increasing. One of our clients turns it into a “giving back to the community” event where they learn about themselves as a group by combining a mix of Figure 2: Reasons For Not Combining Offsite Business Meetings with business and charity with Incentive Group Travel team building. Executives feel this is a great business bonding event for three hours on one of the program days.”
~ Scott Siewert, US Motivation
Of those that do combine meetings and incentive travel, surprisingly few do so to either save money, reap tax benefits or avoid the negative perceptions of reward travel. Excluding those that combine for other or multiple reasons equally and
13 Except where noted, “I Don’t Know” responses were removed from calculations when producing the charts and tables in this report.
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those that don’t know why they combine, 68 percent (75% in companies of 100 Participant Survey or more employees) combine because they want to get the most out of their Respondent meetings and travel or because they want to take advantage of the fact that they have high performers together with executives in one place. Only 17 percent “It needs to be not insert business meetings into incentive travel for tax reasons (Figure 2). just for high achievers, but the Three times as many organizations tack business meetings on to incentive travel hard workers programs (25%) than the other way around (8%). Notably, nearly half (45%) take contributing to the a strategic, integrated approach where the business meetings are actually part of real satisfaction and the incentive reward strategy. The remainder, about 20 percent, report that they results. Some high are not integrated, just separate components of a single travel program. achievers are also the work-horses a It is important to note that the largest category of respondents approaches the business needs. They combination strategically and attempts to make the business meeting(s) part of reward them with the actual reward (Figure 3). Similarly, when deciding whether or not to combine money, which is what makes them tick, but a meeting or meetings with a group incentive reward, a full 50 percent of don’t forget those respondents (among those who know the reasons they combine) decide based doing the work also on an integrated strategy to achieve specific business goals. The remainder base need to have say in their decisions on factors such as the cost and scope of the travel reward trip; the the future and need for an offsite business meeting at that particular time; the types of people understand what the on the reward trip; and the likely return on investment of doing them separately executives need for versus together (Figure 4). the company to succeed. It is the Figure 3: Planning Combined Meetings and Incentive Travel work-horses that need the getaway experiences and the knowledge that can come from socializing with peers and executives – if you want the purpose to be to make the company more successful.
9 IRF:%The%Integration%of%Offsite%Business%Meetings%and%Incentive%Group%Travel Sidebar: Leveraging High Performers at Spherion Figure 4: Decision Criteria & Rationale “At Spherion, a staffing and recruiting company, we wanted to know what the criteria for hires was for their success going forward. We implemented a business session exercise in which we ask three questions: 1. What is the best advice they’ve
ever had, 2. What do they attribute most of their success The most important reason for combining business meetings with incentive to, and 3. Who in their office travel is illustrated by the 54 percent of respondents whose main purpose for would most benefit from that combining the two is to have a productive meeting in which high performers information and advice? We and executives discuss the organization’s business issues. It is also interesting put all of that together to that 31 percent combine in order to reward high performers. This suggests that share with the group. We these organizations either view the meetings as a true reward, or possibly that tracked their attributes (for our hiring criteria) and also they approach it from the meeting first and incentive travel second (the reward who they said needed their is to have the meeting in a nice location). For 15 percent of respondents, the guidance the most. Then we main reason for the combination is to gain insights into how to better drive their created a mentoring program incentive and reward strategy. This implies that the business meeting is and asked all 300 delegates focused on gaining feedback from top performers about incentives and rewards to participate by mentoring (Figure 5). the person that they said most needed their help. We Figure 5: Main Reasons for Combination tracked it to see how many won the incentive the following year. Of those mentored, more than 65% did so! That's an example of a meeting at an incentive travel program driving the company strategy. It gave us what we needed to more than justify the program. It developed our Interestingly, when asked to select the top two benefits of combined meetings talent and opened new lines and incentive travel from the incentives or program/event manager’s of communications through the organization with peer led perspective, “cost savings” was the most common response, followed by better mentoring and we’re now business outcomes. Personal time savings and more efficient scheduling of able to leverage that channel executives’ time were also important benefits (see Figure 6). in many ways.” Dahlton Bennington, Bennington Meetings &
Motivation
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Figure 6: Top two benefits of combination for incentives or program/event “We have two types of managers trips. The pure incentive trip is not at all about the tax benefits. We would not meet or even try to meet the minimum four hours per day necessary to write those trips off as business. There’s no way people will sit through them and wait. But we do offsite meetings in nice locations, for example, Napa Valley, where half the day is the meeting. We’re moving to more of them, it allows the host to strategize who they want to attend and choose the agenda, the blend, From the organization’s perspective, the combination of offsite business speakers, etc.” meetings with incentive travel would seem to offer only advantages. However, planners should remember that from the reward earner’s perspective, it might be ~Todd Zint, NFP. a negative to attend a business meeting on a trip they’ve earned and looked forward to. As is outlined in the next section, the key to a successful combination Expert Interview is in design – design of the program with the best interests of the reward earner “It’s absolutely more in mind. efficient to combine meetings with incentive travel. Peoples’ schedules are booked, they wear two
or three hats, it only makes sense to have some form of meeting in incentive travel and some incentive in an offsite business meeting. People are coming from all over the world so you have to use the opportunity as a meeting but also to reward and recognize them. You could have done that meeting over Webex or Skype otherwise.”
~ Scott Siewert, US Motivation
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Participant Survey The Participant’s Perspective Respondents ______“If it is an incentive, I don't think the business While the “participant” survey for this research was intended to capture the views portion should be of a range of workers across many industries, sales professionals and their included. It should be a managers were specifically targeted. In all, almost 500 sales professionals, reward.” managers and executives responded to our survey representing about 42 percent of our total participant survey respondent group. As with our “It works because it's a reward as well as training, organizational survey, respondents provided insights across a range of more a meeting and a bonding than twenty factors related to offsite business meetings, incentive group travel, experience for all and the combination of the two. involved.” In part due to the broad range and types of workers that participated in the study, “It's a nice way to talk to we found that almost two-thirds (64.4%) of participant respondents, had never people in higher positions participated in an offsite business meeting nor had they earned an incentive and gain knowledge on group travel reward. 18.6 percent had participated in an offsite meeting, 6.6 reaching that goal. Also percent had earned a group travel reward and 10.4 percent had participated in networking with other both14 (see Figure 7). The majority (52%) of those who had not participated in a people in the same or combined offsite business meeting with incentive group travel, had not simply different positions can help with team building.” because their organization does not offer the combination (or they are not aware of it). 26 percent had never earned an incentive trip and 25 percent had earned “My company does not the incentive but could not attend (see figure 8). have incentive group travel but I'm sure I would For sales professionals and leaders, and for organizations of more than 100 not want to combine a employees, higher percentages of respondents had participated in offsite business meeting with meetings, incentive travel and the combination of the two, but there was not as travel when the travel did great a difference as might be expected. 11.8 percent of sales professionals not include my reported that they had participated in combined incentive travel and business friends/family and was not meetings (vs. 10.4% overall) and in organizations of 100 or more employees, the my own agenda.” rate jumped to 13.1 percent (see Appendix C). These findings suggest that off- “There must be a balance site meetings and even incentive travel may be growing in use among non-sales between meeting time and professionals. free time to enjoy the However, overall only about 6.6 percent of the more than 600 participant survey amenities.” takers who responded to the question “Have you participated (been selected for) “Time away from home is a group travel reward in the past?” answered in the affirmative. A larger group, not compensated for. If almost one in five, had participated in offsite business meetings and just over 10 you have me everyday, all percent had participated in a combined business meeting/incentive group travel day, then give me a day event. The great majority, almost two-thirds, had participated in neither. off to get my personal time back in place when I return.”
14 “Both,” in this case, means “combined.”
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Figure 7: Participation in meetings & incentive travel Expert Panelist
“When offering travel rewards that the winners can choose from a catalog, it is important to involve the family in the selection process. We suggest that the family look at the catalog together and decide what trip they should take as a family and celebrate Mom or Dad’s amazing performance. We have Figure 8: Reasons for Not Participating received great feedback from winners about how the family’s experience started with the selection of the trip rather than the trip itself. Extending the experience has been a huge priority for us, and marketing the experience to the family has been
warmly received.”
~ Ken Welch, Cisco Systems Our practitioner respondents were consistent in rating participant outcomes as among the most important business benefits for the combined programs. For Participant Survey example, reward earners coming back “feeling more engaged and motivated” Respondent and that they should “leave with a tangible sense that their individual “Take the time to apply contributions are critical to the organization’s success” were the highest and your own experience and second highest rated outcomes of seven options provided (see Appendix C). put yourself in the shoes of the participant's Participants stated that relative to other factors, they are not motivated by experience.” networking opportunities and the chance to meet with senior executives. This was also low on the priorities of practitioner survey respondents, suggesting that organizations, namely those that put together combined meeting and incentive travel programs, may be on the same page in this respect. Designers of the programs seem to place participant outcomes even higher than the organization’s – a good thing because this is a critical element of making the programs work.
A note of caution must be rung, however. Reward earners rated the location, “exotic and nice” as the most motivating aspect of an incentive travel program –
13 IRF:%The%Integration%of%Offsite%Business%Meetings%and%Incentive%Group%Travel Participant Survey and by a fairly wide margin. This was followed by food and activities. The fact Respondents that they had been recognized and rewarded was also rated as very important, as was the time they get to spend away with their spouse or partner (Table 1). “[There are drawbacks] when sessions have no For organizations of more than 100 employees, networking with other top business value, only employees and with executives ranked as significantly more motivating that it did procedure, red tape and in firms of less than 100 employees. In terms of what participants expect from an overhead processes” incentive travel reward experience, “Fun”, “Relaxation” and a “Great Destination” far exceed networking opportunities or having executives on the trip to recognize “If done right, they can be them (Table 2). beneficial to the company and reward the individual When juxtaposed with the data from this and other research that emphasizes at the same time.” getting the most out of the investment in incentive travel and the cost-cutting efforts of the past several years – including the use of less exotic and posh Practitioner Survey resorts – a red flag might be raised. Even where a program designer has the Respondent perspective of the reward earner in mind, they may not be able to deliver what’s “Be very close to your most important and motivating to them in the face of budget pressures. sponsor. Surveying the Table 1: The most motivating aspects of incentive travel programs participants is critical but (Participants) your sponsor – the VP sales, or CEO is vital too. You better know very well what they are expecting and desire.”
Expert Panelist
“The risk associated with failure in combined programs is significant and should warrant more emphasis on measurement. For Table 2: Expectations of incentive travel programs (Participants) example, if meeting expectations during the incentive program are too onerous, it can demotivate achievers. If the incentive component of a meeting is too rich it can communicate that the company spends in excess. Proper assessment can strike the right balance.”
~ Todd Hanson, ROI of Engagement
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On the other hand, respondents clearly disliked certain aspects of reward travel. Expert Panelist Asked to select the two worst aspects of incentive travel, the travel itself (getting "The direction we get from there and back) was the single biggest drawback. The next greatest drawback the winners regarding the was “time spent away from family” – perhaps an indication that most incentive topics for our round table travel does not include family members beyond spouses. Most interestingly, discussions is despite the option of “none” – meaning respondents could have selected one amazing. The word has gotten out from past drawback and then “none” to indicate everything else was positive – having to events that leaders spend spend time with colleagues was selected as a drawback by almost one in five countless hours preparing respondents. Having to meet and talk with senior executives was also selected for the sessions and by more than 10 percent of respondents (see figure 9). cherish the opportunity to listen and learn about Figure 9: Most important drawbacks to incentive reward travel. what is happening with Cisco’s customers around the world. Company policy around the use of resources and our next big bets in the marketplace could start or end in these round tables.”
~ Ken Welch, Cisco Systems As above, reward earners rank “fun” as their number one expectation from incentive travel rewards – a great destination and a first rate hotel, followed by relaxation, round out the top four. For participants, the least important “Taxes just aren’t a factor. For me, that the content considerations are the agenda of activities (perhaps they crave unstructured of the meeting itself is time) and networking opportunities. Being publicly recognized is not important well thought-out, relative to most other elements (see Appendix C). This may be a noteworthy meaningful and impactful finding when compared to the organizations’ most desired outcome of making the is a benefit. You want participant feel special and recognized. Perhaps the “public walk-across-the- participants to come back stage” and being showcased to senior executives as a top performer isn’t as feeling like it’s a really important as being treated like a VIP for a week. However, whether it’s public great experience, so it’s less about coming back acknowledgement or special treatment, it is clear that recognition, in some form, with new knowledge. As remains very important to reward earners. When asked how earning an incentive an organizer, you want to travel reward impacts their performance, appreciation of the recognition ranks make sure the right first by a fair margin (Figure 10). amount of thought is going into the program in total to ensure the experience as a whole is rewarding and meaningful.” ~ Charlie Ferbet, Maritz Travel
15 IRF:%The%Integration%of%Offsite%Business%Meetings%and%Incentive%Group%Travel Practitioner Survey Figure 10: How does incentive travel impact performance? Respondent “We want our incentive achievers to enjoy their trip and time with each other.”
Expert Panelist
“There are no patterns or consistencies that you can use to build just the right team to design the combined programs. More Switching our focus from incentive group travel to offsite business meetings, we and more, the meeting asked participant survey respondents the same question about impact on their planner and incentive performance and behavior. In this case, sharing best practices with peers, travel designer positions collaborating with peers to solve business problems and acquiring skills and are combined. There is no training are the top three drivers of performance. Though higher than for universal description for meeting planner either, it incentive travel, only 20 percent indicated doubt as to whether offsite business could be a much different meetings have a positive impact on their job performance. In terms of behaviors person at FedEx than at and attitudes, 77 percent cited good information and being better informed and Coca Cola. Frequently, determined as outcomes of offsite business meetings, whereas only 23 percent this type of thing is fully said that offsite business meetings have either no impact on their behavior, or a or partially outsourced, so negative impact (Figures 11 and 12). When asked what they like best about it really depends on the organization.” offsite business meetings, our respondents chose “getting good information” significantly higher than anything else (Figure 13). On the downside, offsite ~ Bobbi Landreth, FedEx meetings were perceived as costly in both time and money (Figure 14). “Take the ideas and Figure Eleven: How do offsite business/ sales meeting events impact your feedback from the performance? Select up to two only. meetings and let the business follow up. If you really follow up after to continue the conversation, that’s the best practice – follow up on the outcomes of your meetings.”
~ Dahlton Bennington, Bennington Meetings & Motivation.
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Figure 12: Does attendance at offsite business/sales meeting events impact Expert Panelist or affect your behavior or your attitudes? “When the subject of adding meetings to an incentive program arises, we are often told by participants that if they knock themselves out to qualify for a travel award to the Caribbean, Australia, Peru or elsewhere, they don’t want the host company taking precious hours out
of a day for meetings in a program that is short Figure 13: What is the best aspect of an Figure 14: The drawbacks enough already” offsite business meeting? (Choose up to two) ~ Colin Higgins, PEIncentives
“It doesn’t have to be a meeting, it can be a [Corporate Social Responsibility] CSR event, getting people together in an organized Where our respondents had participated in combined offsite business meetings way, and not necessarily and incentive group travel, their experience was divided concerning how much formal or structured. We time was spent in meetings. It is noteworthy that where most organizations do a lot of CSR, with inspiring keynote believe business meetings are restricted to less than 20 percent of the combined speakers followed by event, fully two-thirds of participants report that they spend more than 20 percent doing the things he or of their incentive travel trip time in business meetings. Indeed almost as many she’s talked about – report spending 40 percent or more of their time in meetings as report spending contributing to the 20 percent or less (Figure 15). This could represent a key disconnect between community and building what program planners design and how it is perceived by reward earners. For camaraderie.” example, it could well be that some meetings are of a poor quality; making them ~ Todd Zint, NFP seem much longer than they are.
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Figure 15: Time spent (as percentage of event) in business meetings Expert Panelist (Organizations vs. Reward Earners) “You have to look at it through the lens of the 30% participant first, before the business. The 25% objective is to reward and recognize and build 20% relationships and a feeling of specialness. Organization 15% The business and Reward Earner 10% educational content has to be perceived as such 5% and only then aligned to the business interest. 0% Less 5-10% 11-20% 21-40% 31-40% 41-50% I want to add that this than 5% isn’t data, it’s stories. I had one guy who said he was exhausted after his While differences exist between the organization’s priorities and those of reward trip. He had to meet with earners and/or the perception of how much of the trip is consumed by business too many top executives meetings, the most pertinent question of all for participants is whether they value and the CEO. All of his the combination of offsite business meetings and incentive group travel. After all, dinners were spoken for, they earned the reward travel. Moreover, organizations themselves claim that the he had no breaks, just programs are designed to have the greatest positive impact on earners as more work but with his wife along. So his possible. company may have Encouragingly, the most often selected response to this question was that the overdone it – certainly for combination works for reward earners and the organization (44%). Another 30 him. Another person on the same trip might value percent agree that it’s a good idea, but mainly for the organization. 15 percent every minute with the feel that it doesn’t work – that it’s just something they have to get through before senior executives, so it’s the fun starts. Lastly, a significant 10 percent believe the combination works personal, you can’t put neither for them nor for the company (Figure 16). It is noteworthy that among the hard and fast best sales professionals represented in our reward earner survey, less than 16 practices or benchmarks percent believe the combination doesn’t work (compared to 25% overall). around any of it, it’s different for everyone.”
~ Roger Stotz, IRF
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Figure 16: Combined incentive travel & business meetings: Participants’ perception of the experience Expert Panelist
“… they’re with their peers who are selling at high levels and hearing about how each other achieve. They are not competitors because they’re from different cities. And it builds camaraderie, trust and it’s really where alliances Included in our participant survey were respondents who had attended offsite start. We have one large business meetings where incentive group travel reward winners were included. incentive travel program This group represented many of the senior leaders, executives, planners, project but we also have hybrid meetings, they are located managers and HR professionals in the survey. We asked them their perception in great incentive locales. of the combined meeting/incentive reward trip experience. A remarkable 94.3 Napa Valley, for example. percent felt that it was a great way to recognize top performers or a good We start the day with a combination otherwise. Only 5.7 percent assessed it as a failure (Figure 17). four-hour meeting in the
morning but we also go to wineries and have great Figure 17: Perception of combined meetings and incentive travel among meals. We did the F-1 in meeting participants who were not part of the reward travel Austin, a four-hour meeting then off to the race. We are looking for satisfaction with the event and for retention. We also bring in new and potential recruits and those on the bubble of getting to the next level.”
~ Todd Zint, NFP
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Participant Survey Best Practices: The Design of Combined Respondents Business Meetings and Incentive Travel “Proper recognition of all contributing employees is Respondents to our survey and the experts who participated in our focus groups key, don't leave people and interviews were consistent in their communication of the key best practices out who deserve some and principles surrounding the combination of offsite business meetings and kind of recognition – even incentive group travel. The overarching sentiment among experts, practitioners if it's just verbal.” and the participants themselves is that when business meetings are made part of 15 “Every one I have ever an incentive travel program, they must be so important, useful and compelling been on I met some great that they become part of the reward itself. In other words, if a top performer has people that I bonded with worked all year to earn a five-star trip to Hawaii, the meeting should be at least and kept in touch with as compelling to her as spending that time with her guest doing something fun. them for many years after It’s a very high standard but one that many of our organizational respondents and we went to the meetings experts attain through proper planning and, before everything, by seeing the together.” meeting from the participant’s perspective. “Business meetings are In our practitioner survey, we asked respondents to select the top two drivers that just that – business. They optimize the impact of the combined event. The most commonly selected are focused on a program and working with peers. response was that planners had to ensure that the incentive reward attendees Incentive travel should be felt recognized and special (23.5%). Almost as critical was to ensure that the relaxing and fun – not content is meaningful and relevant (22%). These considerations, along with stressful. Business thorough planning and top-notch destinations and amenities make the meetings are full of combination work (Figure 18). stress.”
Figure 18: Combined Meeting and Incentive Travel Optimization “If the business meetings are held on 1-2 days of the trip, full time, the rest of the week can be for personal time. This is better than having business meetings every morning and the afternoons free.”
15 As noted throughout this report, organizations also add incentive travel to business meetings. However, those instances are far less common according to the results of our survey. Our findings in this report are relevant where business meetings are added to incentive travel and are not necessarily applicable to the reverse situation.
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Similarly, when we asked practitioner respondents to rank important participant Expert outcomes from the combined events, the desire for reward earners to return Panelist feeling more engaged and motivated and the hope that they would feel like they are an important part of the organization, were in a virtual dead heat for the most “Outside of surveying the desired outcomes. A distant third was to have gained best practices and new attendees for satisfaction approaches through sharing with other top performers. Fourth and Fifth were to and having that process have expanded their networks among their high performing peers and among in place, there’s a huge executives. Interestingly, the desire that reward earners return from the events deficiency in and around relaxed and relieved of stress took last position after excluding those that didn’t the ROI/Effectiveness know or suggested other outcomes (See Appendix B). piece of measurement. For the business, practitioner respondents also ranked participants “feeling more As a third party provider, engaged and rewarded” as the most important benefit to the organization. A we have a need for our close second and third were reward earners’ feeling that their contributions are clients to better critical, and a great meeting in which high performers and executives were able understand and articulate to discuss business issues. In terms of benefits to the organization, having the benefit and to help reward earners return “less stressed, having learned new approaches and best them articulate value in a practices” and having expanded their networks among peers and executives way that’s meaningful to were ranked a more distant fourth, fifth and sixth respectively (see Appendix B). their Senior Execs. As an industry, there are very It should be noted that reward earners who are employees of partners (resellers, few client companies that distributors, representatives, etc.) of the organization might have a very different have the discipline to go view of business meetings than direct employees of the organization. Findings through the rigor of ROI from a variety of IRF research suggest that reward earners from partner measurement for events. organizations (“channel partners”) are almost universally adamant in their objection to meetings intruding on their reward travel. Yet, according to the same As a winner and host in research, and to experts on our panels, business meetings during reward travel our organization, events – even for channel partners – can be motivating and appreciated when satisfaction surveys are they facilitate the sharing of competitive information and best practices, bring used to help design our potential partners together, and generally help high achievers do even better. future experiences. We Again, it comes down to design and seeing the meeting from the perspective of use a “Voice of the the reward earner. Attendee” approach to When it comes to putting together the right teams to design combined events, help shape the design of there is no clear-cut answer. When asked who plans these events in their the experience, including organization, the results included everyone from the legal department and the everything from site COO to professional meeting planners and incentives designers. When the selection, venue responses were divided between organizations with fewer than 100 employees selection, activities, and those with more (roughly a 50/50 split in our respondent group, see inclusions, etc.” Appendix B) no more consistent a pattern emerged. All that can be deduced from Figure 19 is that it is more common among larger firms to involve sales and ~ Charlie Ferbet, Maritz marketing and less so for them to involve the CEO, CFO or COO, procurement, Travel _
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HR, and surprisingly, incentive/reward planners. Not surprisingly, smaller firms involve ‘C’ level executives more frequently. They also appear to rely more on Expert Panelists HR and incentive/reward planners. “We’ve always had Figure 19: Who is involved in planning combined incentive group business meetings as a component of incentive travel/offsite business meeting events in your organization? travel so it’s a non-issue. But some delegates who are new and not familiar External Support with the way we do things C' Level Execs say, ‘We used to do Sales Mgmt meetings for tax reasons Procurement only, can’t you just lie?’ Marketing Mgmt. 100+ I’ve heard that a million times.” Corp. Travel Under 100 Legal ~Dahlton Bennington, Finance Overall Bennington Meetings & HR Motivation. Meeting Planners Incentive/Reward Planners 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% “Preferential tax treatment does not drive decisions Where required skills for planning combined programs are concerned, our regarding the event. It’s practitioner survey respondents felt that the most important skill a meeting all about making the professional who leads combined events should acquire, is an understanding of winners, our company’s reward and recognition strategy – what needs to be included to have a top performers, feel successful incentive program. Respondents also suggested that a knowledge of special and the rules – how one earns the incentive travel reward is important. For incentive appreciated…that’s where it begins and ends. We and recognition professionals adding business meetings to the incentive travel want it to be an ideal trip, they are managing, respondents rated logistical planning skills – selecting the and we want everyone venue, managing meeting space, etc., as the most important skill. A distant (and their spouses) to second was a focus on content management and communications (see Appendix want to return year after B). year.” Not surprisingly, even when an organization is very mindful of the reward ~ Michael Berger, earner’s perspective on meetings – even when it creates compelling meetings Insperity that are valuable for both the participant and the organization – there must be a limit on the time spent in business meetings during an incentive reward trip. As outlined above, our organizational respondents estimated the time reward earners spend in business meetings from a low of less than 5 percent to a high of more than 50 percent, however, the majority keep their meetings to 20 percent or less of the trip. The principles above may be universal when designing combined incentive travel/business meeting programs: Building the program from the reward earner’s
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perspective, emphasizing the participants’ engagement and enjoyment of the trip and not going overboard on meeting time so that it consumes too much of the program. Yet with rewards and incentives, as with most other things, one size does not fit all. Planners should design programs that are as flexible as possible. One way to compel world-class meeting content is to make the meetings optional and apply no pressure at all to those who wish to opt out (as this might incentivize planners to ensure the content is good enough to attract a crowd). Similarly, where social events – dinners, golf, etc. are in place so that high performers can spend time with senior executives, allow the reward earner to determine how many – if any – to participate in. It should also be noted that a good many organizations (in fact the slight majority, according to our research) do not combine business meetings with incentive travel, even if this is rapidly changing. At FedEx, for example, the leadership is very protective of an incentive travel program that has been in place for twenty years and has become extremely prestigious. FedEx would rather cut other parts of the budget than do anything that might “water down” an incentive program that generates so much excitement and strong results. FedEx views their program as 350 couples and 350 individual well-earned vacations that happen to come together each evening to celebrate.
“From the perspective of the reward earner, the content will make or break that incentive element. If I am a reward earner and you bring me into a meeting and you roll out next years plans and strategies, and you go over the numbers and tell me what my next year goals and quotas are, you’ve just busted my bubble. That’s not an incentive. But if you offer content where I learn from the cream of the crop at the event, an awards program where the winners share the best practices that helped them succeed, then it’s educational and that might send me back from my trip in a good mood. And that could benefit the company too. So the content is the key in the combination. The experience and the content are key.”
~ Donna Sanford, Engage 365
Please See Addendum 1: “The Designer’s Toolkit” on Page 26 for more information and practical tips on how to design combined programs.
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Key Findings and Conclusions ______Trends • The combination of incentive travel and business meetings is not new, it has been occurring for decades.
• The practice of adding a business component (often formal meetings) to incentive travel programs appears to be a trend except in certain organizations. Most experts believe that pure incentive travel is in decline, yet in some organizations, incentive travel programs are so revered that changing the formula to add a business meeting would be considered anathema.
• The trend toward combined offsite business meetings and incentive group travel has little to do with managing perceptions or with tax and cost savings. It is driven mainly by a desire to leverage the presence of the organization’s top performers with senior executives so that impactful discussions can be had in which executives learn from top performers and reward earners feel more valuable and engaged.
• There appears to be a trend toward ensuring that where a business meeting is included in incentive travel, the content is exceptional, the discussions compelling and the recommendations acted upon. In the past, meetings were often viewed as a nuisance – something that had to be “gotten out of the way” before the fun could start. Today, planners and designers attempt to make the meetings so good that participants consider them part of the reward.
• Despite best intentions, most organizations appear to be somewhere on the journey toward the effective business meeting/incentive travel combination. Currently, at least according to our findings, there are significant differences between what the organization views as important and motivating and how participants feel.
• Nevertheless, the great majority of reward earners appear to be receptive to attending business meetings during their reward trip. This is a remarkable testament to their commitment, yet the same participants emphasize the need for the meetings to be meaningful and rewarding in and of themselves.
Best Practices
• It is extremely important to remember that every participant is different. Some will thrive on an agenda full of commitments for meetings and social occasions with senior executives. Others will desire less of those interactions and more time to relax and recharge with their partner. Only rarely does it appear that reward earners reject business meetings and networking entirely. It boils down to quality and personal preference – how compelling and valuable are the meetings and networking to the individual reward earner? How much is too much for one participant versus another?
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• The key to a successful combination is in the design of the program. Careful thought and exceptional content can turn skeptics into eager participants. Planners must always place themselves in the shoes of the reward earner and put participants’ needs ahead of the organization’s desires. As above, participation in business aspects of the program should be voluntary.
• It takes a specific skillset for a meeting planner or an incentive travel planner to manage both. The right person will have a combination of the most important skills of each, including the logistics and venue expertise of meeting planners and the knowledge of rewards, recognition and motivation of incentives planners.
• Collect, analyze and communicate the results of the meetings. Then ensure that recommendations and ideas arising from the meetings are acted on at the highest levels. Communicate this back to participants. This creates a virtuous cycle in which next years participants know they will be listened to and that the meetings generate real outcomes.
• Most organizations attempt to measure the success of their programs through satisfaction surveys and observation. This process can be effective when linked to business outcomes such as engagement and retention. While most measure only at very basic levels, the cost and importance of the programs has motivated a significant number of organizations to adopt formal methods to measure their programs that include business impact and ROI. In every case, it is also critical to impress the sponsor of the program, whether that is the CEO or another senior executive, as they will often base future funding decisions on their own experience at the event. (See Addendum B for more information on program measurement).
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Addendum 1: The Designer’s Toolkit
1. The Integrate or Separate Tool
2. The Signpost Drivers of Meeting/Incentive Combinations
3. ARDENT Archetype description
4. EVANGELIST archetype description
5. ICON archetype description
6. MAVERICK archetype description
7. SOCIAL BUTTERFLY archetype description
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The Integrate or Separate Tool
Consideration YES Socially-driven culture • Co-workers, families socialize together outside of business hours • Employees spouses/partners socialize • Family involvement and work-life balance are emphasized • Deep intra-company social relationships are key for advancement
“Always at work” culture • Evenings and weekends are standard expectations beyond regular business hours Employees want to influence Executive thinking in the business beyond my own interests • Employees want a Seat at the table to influence Executive thinking Rank and File employees feel strong sense of ownership and involvement in guiding direction of business • High degree of personal responsibility for the success of the business Spouse involvement is to strengthen the family experience Spouse involvement is to improve the performance of the company’s employee TOTAL
Score:
0-2 = Should not consider meetings integration with Group Incentive Travel Program
3+ = Should consider integration of meetings with Group Incentive Travel Program
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Organizational Signpost Drivers of Meeting/Incentive Combinations The IRF’s Meetings/Incentive Travel study found that to be successful, there must be a strategic, integrated approach where the business meetings are actually part of the incentive reward strategy. When business meetings are made part of an incentive travel program, they must be so important, useful and compelling that they become part of the reward itself. In order to accomplish this goal, the program must consider the following five signposts within an organization that drive the successful combination.
Each of these signposts indicates an archetype combining the characteristics of the participants and the organization’s needs.
SIGNPOST #1: Provokes Strong and Immediate Emotional Reactions
People respond to the incentive group travel program at a personal human level, almost involuntarily. The choice of destination alone stimulates a mental vision that puts them there and generates a “love it or hate it” response. Reward earner respondents to the IRF Meeting/Incentive Travel Integration study indicated that the most motivating aspect of an incentive travel program is a nice, exotic location, followed by food and activities. The program must have an immediate, visceral, emotional appeal simply based on the choice of destination, venue, and activities. A meeting component does not play a strong role in driving the appeal; it’s about the place and their intense desire to be there.
ARCHETYPE: ARDENT
“You want to come back feeling like it’s a really great experience, so it’s less about coming back with new knowledge. You want to make sure the right amount of thought is going into the program in total to ensure the experience as a whole is rewarding and meaningful.” -- Charlie Ferbet, Maritz Travel
SIGNPOST #2: Creates Advocates for Business Initiatives
Incentive program participants become passionate advocates when they provide guidance and input on significant business initiatives. The IRF Meeting/Incentive Travel Integration study found that 53% of respondents said their main purpose for combining meetings and group incentive travel is to have a productive meeting in which high performers and executives discuss the organization’s business issues. These dedicated program award winners may be a small slice of your overall target audience base, but they’re the most active and vocal, and they’ll exponentially increase the adoption and success of your business initiative efforts. These individuals are excited and motivated by the prospect of being a part of guiding the strategy and direction of your organization. This position of power in their eyes, drives the appeal of being part of the incentive group travel program.
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ARCHETYPE: AMBASSADOR
“People feel recognized, rewarded when they are party of something bigger and solving real business problems. Part of the incentive is actually forming a board of advisors to solve something, sales programs, diversity issues, etc. A seat on the panel is much more than spending time with an Exec but giving them something that lives on. When asked after the event, they say that was awesome and now we meet each month and the CEO is even part of it. The incentive is linked to purpose, and being part of something bigger.”
--Angie Smith, InVision
SIGNPOST #3: Incentive Program or Group Incentive Travel Program Winners Becomes “Cultural Shorthand” for a Specific Set of Actions or Values
The incentive travel Top Achievers represent such a distinct point of view that the very name of the program itself stands alone as a symbol for a defined set of values; it becomes a reference point for how people identify themselves, and their work world. They identify themselves as being part of this “club” that personifies these values. The IRF’s Meeting/Incentive Travel study found that incentive travel reward earners indicated after “appreciating the recognition”; “wanting to be part of the top performer group” is a primary driver of their performance.
ARCHETYPE: ICON
“!f they’re with their peers who are selling at high levels and hearing about how each other achieve. They are not competitors because they’re from different cities. And it builds camaraderie, trust and it’s really where alliances start. We are looking for satisfaction with the event and for retention. We also bring in new and potential recruits and those on the bubble of getting to the next level.”
~ Todd Zint, NFP
SIGNPOST #4: Incites conversation
The more people want to engage with, play with, learn from, talk about, and, above all, connect with something or someone, the greater its influence. Influential Incentive Travel Programs spark spirited conversations and debate among program top achievers including partners or employees, and often even business competitors. The IRF’s Meeting/Incentive Travel Integration study indicated that after returning feeling motivated and engaged, as well as feeling they’re an important part of the organization, reward earners desired outcome was to have gained best practices and new approaches through sharing of best practices and expanding their networks of high-performing peers and executives. Influential incentive travel program achievers themselves spark conversation – they are talked about and held up as examples by their peers.
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ARCHETYPE: SOCIAL BUTTERFLY “It’s where key relationships are made. It’s very important from a career perspective to be in the “inner circle” of a company, and going on the trip is the best way to put yourself in that inner circle. It’s the ultimate opportunity to interact with our leadership team and the other top contributors on a personal, social basis. People stay with our company because of the friendships that are formed and nurtured on these trips.” -- Michael Berger, Insperity
SIGNPOST #5: Prods other employees or channel partners to realign around the behaviors and activities of the incentive program winners
These incentive programs don’t follow or mirror trends, but rather, establish new standards for the expected behaviors in the target audiences. In the IRF’s Meeting/Incentive Travel Integration study, 31% of organizations combine the two in order to reward high performers for their activities throughout the year. In this case, the reward earner considers the meeting component of the Incentive Travel program as a benefit. These programs and their winners think, act, and behave differently than others within their organization. Often, they inspire other employees or partners to follow in the path of top achievers. The individual winners are inspirational characters that others in the organization use as measuring sticks for their own levels of success. These action-oriented individuals cause or tap into significant change revolutions in your business.
ARCHETYPE: Maverick
“Balancing sessions with the incentive agenda. Business sessions should be led by an organizations goals and objections, and will ensure each session relevance. With SFN Group we found open executive forums, best practice sharing and peer to peer learning were most effective and appreciated.”
-- Dahlton Bennington
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Archetype Descriptions
ARDENT:
Characteristics of an ARDENT culture or personality are that they’re driven primarily by emotion. The organization may have a charismatic leader that inspires people at a human level. The participants in the incentive program look forward to experiencing an unbelievable trip – one they might never be able to take or afford with their spouse or family on their own.
1) Fun Focused: Activities on the incentive trip focus more on spouses or families spending time together. It’s not about group activities with peers and senior leadership. This trip is purely about enjoying the fruits of one’s significant hard work throughout the year.
2) Recognition: The recognition is simply earning the trip in the first place. Being able to return from the trip and share photos with friends, neighbors, and peers at work is reward enough. There’s no need to parade winners across a stage and shine a spotlight on them. However, if a recognition ceremony is planned – the spouse or significant other included on the trip (and in the audience for the ceremony) is extremely important.
3) Communication and Follow-Up: Communications throughout the program’s earning period should focus on images of the destination and include lots of images and stories of people’s experiences on previous trips. Follow-up after the program should include images of the winners having fun on the trip with testimonials from winners about how personally meaningful the trip was for them and their spouse or guest.
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AMBASSADOR: Characteristics of an AMBASSADOR culture or personality are that business efforts are grown and encouraged throughout the business by a small but passionate group of people. The organization relies on the grassroots efforts of key influencers to create interest and adoption of new business initiatives. The participants in the incentive program look forward to participating as equal partners alongside Senior Executives and creating programs for which they can be evangelists within their organizations.
1) Meeting Solving Business Challenges: While meetings won’t be the sole focus of the trip, they are an important factor that attracts participants. Meetings should be designed such that incentive program top achievers submit business concerns and challenges. While on the incentive travel program, participating top achievers select a session hosted by a senior leader where that business concern is discussed and the group creates solutions.
2) Recognition: Recognition comes in the form of participant’s voices and concerns not only being heard but they’re an active part of creating the solution. Ongoing participation throughout the year in conveying the intent and purpose of the solution they helped co-create also serves as ongoing recognition that these top achievers are a part of driving the organization’s strategies.
3) Communications and Follow-Up: Communications throughout the program’s earning period should focus on (of course, images of the destination) but also include reminders of the solutions developed by past program winners. Follow-up after the program should include ongoing updates of the solutions or business efforts created by the evangelists they’ve been hearing from all year.
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ICON:
Characteristics of an ICON culture or personality are that magnetic and influential individuals within the organization drive them. The activities and actions of these “Icons” within the organization spark attention, conversation, and debate. The top achievers in the incentive travel program ignite conversation and create trends within their organizations.
1) Meeting Sharing Best Practices: Clearly, a group of ICONS will have a lot to say that others want to hear. Meetings should be designed such that incentive program top achievers share their “magic formulas” for success. Senior Executives would do well to listen and learn from the examples and best practices shared by these top achievers. It’s likely that others within their organization will follow suit and emulate the actions and behaviors of this group.
2) Recognition: Recognition is important for this group. They are used to being in the spotlight, and enjoy it. Be sure to include some form of recognition that highlights each top achiever’s performance and excellence.
3) Communications and Follow-Up: Communications throughout the program’s earning period should focus on the best practices and success stories of past program winners. Follow-up after the program should include profiles or highlights of each of the winners throughout the earning period.
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MAVERICK: Characteristics of a MAVERICK culture or personality are that change agents within the organization begin grassroots revolutions. The program represents those who take risks and behave differently than the rest of the organization. MAVERICKS want to establish trends and motivate others in the organization to join them in creating cultural movements in your organization.
1) Meeting Solving Business Challenges: This driven group of high achievers is motivated by the ability to introduce new initiatives and create change. Meetings should be an included in the incentive program and designed in such a way that participants lead the charge in creating solutions for the challenges faced by Senior Executives. This group probably considers themselves to be a solutions think tank, with innovative approaches and ideas they’d like to be able to share with Senior Executives.
2) Recognition: Formal recognition isn’t required to make a MAVERICK feel special. However, when an idea or innovation is adopted in the organization, the MAVERICK top achiever needs to feel some measure of credit for the concept. Senior Executives need to acknowledge the contributions of top achievers and privately or publicly let them know how much their free-spirited innovation is helping to make the organization successful.
3) Communications and Follow-Up: Communications throughout the program’s earning period should emphasize the innovations and solutions created by program top achievers. Follow-up after the program should include highlights of the solutions developed by top achievers on the trip and progress being made if these solutions are being implemented in the organization.
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SOCIAL BUTTERFLY:
Characteristics of a SOCIAL BUTTERFLY culture or personality are that work-life balance and the well-being of the whole person is emphasized. Socializing takes place not only with the employee of the organization, but the spouse or significant others are also included and are sometimes even friends themselves, apart from the employees. SOCIAL BUTTERFLY incentive programs are driven by the desire to socialize and spend time together with friends each year. There may even be pressure from peers in the organization to work harder so they can once again be together on the incentive trip.
1) Friends and Significant Other Focused: Activities on the incentive travel program are about hanging out with work friends and their families. There may be conversation on the golf course or in the spa that veers towards work topics, but the focus of the trip is spending time together in purely social settings not business meetings.
2) Recognition: Being recognized in front of one’s significant other or spouse and friends is what matters to this group. Including an informal dinner with Executives where only the “best of the best” are invited is a great way to meet both the social and recognition needs of this group. Executives should be prepped to lavish specific praise on the top achievers in front of the people that matter most to them (their spouse, significant other, or friends).
3) Communications and Follow-Up: Communications throughout the program’s earning period should focus on images of happy groups of people enjoying activities in the destination. Communications and progress reporting should be sent to the home and not the office. Follow-up after the program should consider incorporating some form of social networking or ability for other employees to congratulate winners on their performance. Another significant element is the ability for members of the elite incentive travel program achievers to encourage each other to earn a spot on next year’s trip.
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Addendum 2: Measuring the Effectiveness of Combined Offsite Business Meetings and Incentive Group Travel
The measurement of incentive travel programs and offsite business meetings, as well as the combination of the two, is difficult. Beyond a simple assessment of participant satisfaction or observation, few organizations have formal measurement processes. In our survey of organizations (considering only the respondents that knew and reported how their organization measured combined meetings and incentive travel) 10 percent said that they do not measure the impact of combined meetings and incentive travel at all. Of those that do, the great majority (70%) use reaction surveys – they simply ask participants what they liked and didn’t like about the event – or they merely observe the event and make a judgment afterward about its success.
However, an encouraging 20 percent employ formal methods for determining the business impact and ROI through evaluations including metrics, measurement and analysis (Figure 20). As might be expected, larger firms are significantly more likely to conduct formal measurement beyond satisfaction surveys (almost 25%) that in smaller organizations (slightly more than 15%). “Smaller firms” were defined in our survey as those with 100 employees or less.
Figure 20: Measuring the Success and Impact of Combined Meetings and Incentive Travel (practitioner survey)
Our expert panelists and interviewees, most of whom with more than a decade of experience in meeting and/or incentive travel planning, unanimously emphasized the importance of measurement while acknowledging the difficulty of formal methods, including return on investment analysis. Nonetheless, most have made significant progress over the years in moving from “smile sheets” to methods that give them a much better sense of the success of a program. In some cases, the emphasis is on engagement. Surveys before and after the trip (after a period of several weeks) are used to gauge how reward earners feel about the organization. This approach helps monitor the important relationship the organization has with its top performers. And while it can be difficult to say for sure that an increase in engagement is due entirely to an incentive trip, when those surveys
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are crafted carefully, by a behavioral psychologist, for example, they can reveal a great deal about the program and the specific impact – positive and negative – of each element.
Benchmarking surveys can also be used to find what’s most valuable about the types of sessions at combined meeting and incentive travel programs. Survey results are analyzed and in some cases, performance is tracked after the event in an effort to better understand the impact of specific sessions and learning. Our panelists also suggested that organizations might conduct impact studies in which interviews and focus groups with reward earners and their managers reveal whether they have had the opportunity to use new strategies or methods discussed at the event and, if so, the benefits they’ve seen in doing so. In a similar vein, focus group meetings at intervals after the event can be used to look for impact. But rather than asking about the hotel and food, the focus should be on the experience. For example, did they make even one connection that could help them in the future?
Another increasingly critical gauge of the success of combined programs, according to our experts, is retention – are the events helping with retention? While it can be difficult to know how much the experience impacts retention afterward, where camaraderie is developed among participants, and the experience creates an emotional connection beyond the excitement and pride of winning, the positive effects can be felt long after the trip. In these cases, loyalty and deeper connections to the organization can be expected. One way to take this type of measure a step beyond intuition is to simply track who stay and those who leave the organization in comparable positions. For example, track turnover in critical positions of those on the trip versus those in critical positions that were not. Organizations that have used this measure have found a strong correlation with greater retention among those that earned the incentive versus those didn’t. For example, in a recent white paper from the Incentive Research Foundation, researchers found that 55% of those that earned and participated in incentive travel programs tended to perform better and stay with an organization longer than other employees. Again, it may be difficult to draw the line precisely between the program and higher retention but it would appear that at least some of the positive impact can be attributed to the program.
In another case, Randstad, a staffing organization was able to gather key data from reward earners to improve future hires. It also turned its high achievers into mentors which resulted in a large majority of the mentees becoming reward earners in subsequent years. Randstad has used this outcome alone to justify the expense of its combined incentive travel/business meeting program.
For those less able to draw on such measures as those above, yet still concerned about the impact business meetings might have on an incentive reward trip, reaction surveys alone might yield the data they are looking for if thoroughly analyzed. In several cases, our panelists, interviewees and survey takers pointed out that when done right, the business meeting component of the program often ranks among the highest rated elements of the trip. This type of gauge and benchmark can be used to determine whether your meeting component is achieving the all-important standard of being perceived as part of the reward rather than a painful part of the event that has to be endured.
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Appendices
A: Expert Panelists
! Dahlton Bennington, Bennington Meetings & Motivation, Inc.
! Michael Berger, Insperity
! Bruce Bolger, Enterprise Engagement Alliance
! Sandi Daniel, Firelight Group
! Charlie Ferbet, Maritz
! Todd Hanson, ROI of Engagement
! Colin Higgins, PEIncentives
! Bobbi Landreth, FedEx
! Donna Sanford, Engage 360
! Claire Smith, Vancouver Convention Centre
! Scott Siewert, USMotivation
! Rodger Stotz, IRF
! Melissa Van Dyke, IRF
! Ken Welch, Cisco
! Todd Zint, NFP
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Appendix B: Detailed Participant Survey Results
Participant Survey Results by Organization Size and Sales Occupations vs. Non-Sales Occupations
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Appendix C: Detailed Practitioner Survey Results
Practitioner Survey Results by Organization Size and Meeting/Incentives Planner/Designer Occupations vs. Non- Meeting/Incentives Planner/Designer Occupations
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Appendix D: About the IRF
The Incentive Research Foundation (IRF), a private not-for-profit foundation, funds research studies and develops products serving all segments of the global incentive industry. The Foundation focuses its initiatives on pragmatic research highlighting the premise and the power of incentive and motivational programs. Through these efforts, the IRF helps businesses to develop effective motivational and performance improvement strategies. Since its inception in 1987 (as the SITE Foundation), the IRF has underwritten nearly 50 research projects and committed almost $2 million to these research efforts.
These research studies have positioned the Incentive Research Foundation as the global resource for independent, cutting-edge information and analysis of incentive marketing practices and applications. The Foundation established itself as a valued resource for the incentive and business communities with the publication of its first research study, the Master Measurement Model of Employee Performance (1990). This innovative study provided performance measurement criteria that expanded incentive applications outside the traditional sales force arena. This research provided the first of many tools to assist organizations in developing effective incentive programs. Through the development of 10 performance measurement templates for professions as diverse as lawyers, engineers, teachers, and production line workers, the study demonstrated the applicability of incentive programs across the workforce landscape. That noteworthy study initiated the Foundation’s practice of partnering with leading institutions around the world in the areas of motivation, productivity, performance, and benchmarking.
Among these are the American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC), the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI), The Wharton School, London Business School, Temple University, Northwestern University, Ryerson University, Luton Business School and the market research leader GfK NOP. The Foundation's landmark endeavor, Incentives, Motivation and Workplace Performance: Research & Best Practices, produced the most comprehensive, analytical findings about incentives, motivation, and performance in the workplace. This groundbreaking study, is one of several IRF research papers available in Spanish.
In May 2006, the board of trustees adopted the name Incentive Research Foundation to underscore its mission and service to those that currently use incentives and others interested in improved performance. As the Foundation moves forward with a vigorous research agenda, it will pursue partnerships with related industry groups and associations, the academic community, and corporations to achieve its research goals.
The Incentive Research Foundation functions as an independent organization overseen by a Board of Trustees, comprised of leaders from the incentive, motivation, and performance industries. Funding for the Foundation is derived primarily from The Annual Incentive Invitational. 2010 will mark the 17th consecutive year for the event. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
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