I was summoned to jury duty the other day. Or should I say I was called to sit in a room for 8 hours waiting to be called. No cases came up and we were eventually dismissed.

It got me wondering though, what would happen if you put your recognition program on trial? What kind of charges could someone bring if they did?

Too many companies have allowed their programs to linger. They have not changed with the times or their objectives. Is that a criminal offense? No, of course not. But you could make the case it’s a form of “recognition malpractice.”

All kidding aside, I think the biggest offense for any rewards manager is to lock their program (and by extension their company and their employees) into a predefined approach. So many SaaS solutions out there do just that. But what happens when business needs change? How do you readjust?

The answer lies in one word: configurability. Configurability is the ability to easily set or reset program particulars. Look, recognition needs to be flexible enough to deliver against your business goals of today while also positioning you to take advantage of any changing needs that arise in the future. Simply put, configurability is the tool within the tool that helps you use recognition effectively across your entire employee and sales distribution base.

Don’t put your program in a position where it’s destined to fall short. The modern-day business world is too talent-dependent for that to be considered anywhere near acceptable. In other words: Don’t commit recognition malpractice. You’ll never get away with it.