"Everyone is a Winner" is the Way Forward for Business

Schools in the UK are often criticised for seeking to reward and praise all students. The common criticism is that there shold be winners and losers, and that only a few exceptional students should be rewarded.

Now research reported this week by Fortune magazine reveals that the "Everyone is a Winner" approach is the one that works best in business. Boston-based Globoforce found that widely spread rewards work much better than rewarding only the very top performers.

And the remarkable thing is that rewards so not have to be huge to be effective. The average prize, they suggest, should be just $110 (£72). Small rewards given often, ideally reaching 80-90% of staff over the year, are what gets the best results.

I love findings like this, that show once again that treating all people well is the way to create the most effective companies. And that the big bonus culture of the banks and financial sector does not really make sense.