Incentive Program Structure for Interest Alignment

In an earlier post I wrote about how the partners at Hadley Capital eat our own cooking. The investors in our funds appreciate this alignment of interest.  We extend this alignment of interest to the management teams at our companies through incentive programs that reward employees for achieving key objectives and goals. When times are good, all boats rise. When times are bad, everyone works hard to bail out the boat. And there has been a decent amount of bailing over the last 24 months…

The senior managers of our companies are all owners of their respective companies either through purchased equity or through equity incentive programs. All of our managers also participate in incentive cash bonus programs and many of our managers utilize incentive cash bonus programs for their employees.

Of the hundreds of small companies we evaluate each year, very few are effectively utilizing incentive programs to drive positive change.  Effective incentive programs are not complex and are not difficult to implement. Sales commissions represent the most basic form of incentives. Sell more = make more. But incentives have a place in all areas of a business from purchasing to manufacturing to development to customer service to administration. There are a few simple guidelines to keep in mind when structuring incentive programs:

Set goals – establish goals that are specific, measurable, easy to communicate and well-aligned with overall company goals

Measure results – design processes to measure and collect results on a regular basis

Display outcomes – employees need to know the score so display the information measured and the status towards the goals

 

Deliver timely rewards – reward employees as soon as possible after achievement of goals so that there is a clear feedback loop

Collect feedback – listen to employee recommendations for changes, improvements and problems and incorporate them into future incentive programs

Obviously, the goals and objectives of each business are different. Defining the objectives for your business (or a part of your business) is the most important step. But a close second is developing incentive programs that will align the interests of the employees with management and ownership.

One of my favorite books on this topic is Jack Stack’s Great Game of Business. There are lots of other writings on incentive structures but, like most things in business and life, sometimes it’s easiest just to get started and learn as you go.

paul

Paul Wormley - General Partner

Paul joined Scott and Clay to raise Hadley Capital Fund I. He grew up in a family business environment and has spent his entire career working with small and emerging companies.

He currently works with Equustock, GT Golf Supplies, Open Sky Media, Pneu-Con, and Storflex. Previously he was the chairman of the board of directors for i-deal Optics and Centare, both former Hadley companies.

Paul is an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys fishing, hunting, riding motorbikes, Crossfit and an occasional craft beer. He works closely with a number of non-profit organizations including One Acre Fund and Trout & Salmon Foundation.

Paul is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder and received an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He and his wife, Rosemary, have three children.