HELP! Was I Just Arrested or Incentivized?
Editor's Note: There are a lot of reward terms out there and they aren't always universally understood. Leave it to Dan Walter to illuminate this challenge with his Classic humor!
We all wish we were better at communicating. We create presentations (decks) and plan summaries (SPDs). We carefully choose our words and have our colleagues review things before sending them. Our efforts need to be understood by people with wide ranges of experiences, education and levels of interest. But what if our best efforts were making things worse?
Fill in the blank from the selections below:
Today I was _______ for my collaboration in a scheme.
Incentivized
Arrested
Confused
The correct answer, in our industry, is A. In the United States the word “scheme” generally has negative connotation. In Europe it is a common used word to describe an incentive plan. The word plan has less of a link to incentives and more association with architecture or a crime.
In an attempt to be inclusive (“what if the person isn't an employee?”) many of us prefer to use the word participant instead of employee. We want individuals to know that being a participant in a plan is how we bring them all together. Unfortunately, participant quickly translates to outsider in many countries.
Several years ago I wrote an article that discussed the word “compensation.” The most basic term that describes what we do, what people get and why they should be happy, doesn’t translate well. In our efforts to create a language around our confusing and changing industry we have coined terms, found new uses for old ones and sometimes simply invented words to suit our needs. We may not be helping ourselves with these efforts. Our presentations are cleaner and prettier than ever. You know the rules: 3 bullets or less per slide, less words per bullet is better, cool pictures communicate better than a bunch of words. This doesn't leave much room to explain complex terms.
You need a glossary. Many of us no longer include glossaries at the beginning of a presentation. But, your glossary shouldn't be more than five or six words. If you have a laundry list (another mistranslated phrase) of terms you may need to readdress the language. Or, you may need a few smaller glossaries, each beginning the section where those terms are used for the first time.
Think about the short list of words below and how they can be used in other, often unsavory, ways. Then ask yourself if the people who truly need to understand your hard work can possibly be expected to do so.
Tranche
Spread
Exercise
Release
Option
Statutory
Now carefully add your own questionable industry words in the comment section.
Contact FutureSense - Human Resource Consulting, equity pay for career advancement and development. Managing your wage structure to recruit and keep the best personnel for your company is our area of expertise
Dan Walter is a CECP, CEP, and Fellow of Global Equity (FGE). He works as Managing Consultant for FutureSense. Dan is also a leading expert on incentive plans and equity compensation issues. He has written several industry resources including a resource dedicated to Performance-Based Equity Compensation. He has co-authored ”Everything You Do In Compensation is Communication”, , “Equity Alternatives” and other books. Connect with Dan on LinkedIn. Or, follow him on Twitter at @DanFutureSense.
About FutureSense
FutureSense is a management consulting firm that provides integrated solutions to build and sustain human capital capacity. The firm can work with you by offering support and guidance to manage your workforce. To learn more about FutureSense, please visit FutureSense.com.