Pioneering Excellence

Madison is a global leader in employee recognition and incentives, pioneering digital programs since 1995. As an employee-owned company, we deliver recognition, events, and incentive travel solutions that strengthen culture and drive results.

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Designing Sales Meetings That Drive Business Outcomes, Not Just Attendance
Annual sales meetings often represent one of the largest internal investments an organization makes each...
employee traveling
What Actually Drives a Successful Incentive Travel Program After 20 Years in the Field
Incentive travel has never been about the destination. That may sound surprising in an industry that...
employees working together
Sustainability Without Operational Discipline Is Just Messaging
Sustainability is now standard language in meetings and incentive travel. RFPs reference ESG commitments....

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Employee Recognition

Knowledge Center

Knowledge Center

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Blog

Don’t Ask Alexa, Ask Us

Who is Alexa? Or should I ask, what is she? Alexa is the digital assistant inside Amazon’s new voice activated smart speaker called the Echo system. You can ask it to do a lot of different things such as play music, update you on the news, tell you about the…

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Blog

What Holiday Returns Teach Us About Reward Offerings

Now that the holiday gift giving frenzy is over, only one tradition remains… the returns! Go to any mall and you will see long lines of people looking to exchange the gifts they got for the stuff that they really wanted. What does the holiday returns process teach us about…

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people listening to someone talking
Blog

The Lesson From a Bagel Shop

There it was in plain sight, right next to the list of cream cheese flavors. A simple sign printed in big block letters. “LISTEN TO UNDERSTAND… NOT TO RESPOND” What the heck is that doing in a bagel shop I wondered? So I asked. “It’s an excerpt from The 7…

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Blog

Are You Naughty or Nice? (As a Boss That Is)

The quality of bosses (and the impact they have on their employees) is the biggest influence on organizational performance. Lousy bosses create confusion and stress; they contribute to higher turnover and lower productivity. When employees leave a company they often cite poor relationships with their superiors. On the other hand…

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Blog

Don’t Commit “Recognition Malpractice”

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…

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people sitting at a table working together
Blog

Is it Better to Give Than to Receive?

“It is better to give than to receive.” That age old axiom tells us that generosity has its own rewards — especially around the Holidays — and that people on the giving side experience just as much (if not more) satisfaction than those on the receiving end. In the context…

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people collaborating working in an office
Blog

Imagine What the “Mannequin Challenge” Might Show You

Have you heard of the Mannequin Challenge? I’m sure you have. In some chosen setting people freeze in place for a few minutes while someone else shoots a video that records the scene. The results can be a lot of fun. And, I suppose, they can also be pretty revealing…

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employee being rewarded with people clapping
Blog

Tapping Into Our Desire to Acquire

Thanksgiving is upon us. It’s a time to reflect and give thanks for all that’s good in our lives. Oddly enough, it’s also become a time to acquire all of the goods we want in or lives. You can’t open a newspaper, watch TV, or tune in the radio without…

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Blog

Anything is Possible With the Right Team

Anything is possible when your team shares the same objective. Just ask the Chicago Cubs and their fans both of whom had been waiting over a hundred years for a World Series championship. When the Indians tied the seventh and deciding game with a late inning homer, it would have…

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Blog

The Secret to More Recognition in Two Words

At the end of my last posting I promised to share the secret to implementing a high-performing, high-touch recognition strategy without breaking the bank. So what’s the answer? How do you involve and influence all of your employees without driving up costs? The answer lies in two words — social…

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3 Companies doing gender equality right (and how you can, too)
Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) have evolved over the years, moving away from a trendy buzzword and toward a crucial tenet of any successful business. It's what propels companies into sky-high profits. It is responsible for ground-breaking innovations. And it's what boosts employee performance.  There are dozens of business...
Recognizing Women at Work Shouldn’t Be Just Lip Service
You'd be hard-pressed to find a modern organization in today's workforce that doesn't in some way express goals to empower women and create a more equitable environment. Many companies have pledged to increase recognizing women at work , while supporting their growth, improving visibility and actively seeking to level the...
Ask Madison: Employer and Employees are Ready to Get Back on the Road
Both buyers and sellers of incentive travel programs were surveyed in the 2020 incentive Travel Industry Index (ITII) , a joint initiative of FICP (Financial & Insurance Conference Professionals), IRF (Incentive Research Foundation), and SITE Foundation (Society for Incentive Travel Excellence in association with Oxford Economics. The findings indicate we...
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