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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Leadership

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

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

No Debating the Value of Employee Recognition

After three contentious presidential debates (not to mention numerous clashes throughout the primary season), we can all finally agree on one thing — we are sick and tired of debates! Fortunately, there is no debating the value of employee recognition. Organizations that consistently recognize their workers have higher levels of…

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Blog

How to Manage Your Micromanagers

Just about everyone, at some point in their career, has dealt with a leader who micromanages. Simply mentioning the term “micromanage” in a casual conversation can start an exchange of anecdotes and stories of executives who over managed their employees while working on major projects or even day-to-day activities. At…

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people looking at a tablet together
Blog

Tips for Nurturing Peer-To-Peer Recognition

Consider this scenario: You’re an Executive Director at EFG Corp and you’ve been actively using your company’s social recognition technology to deliver rewards and recognition to your team of 50 people. You’ve identified your rockstar managers and have been recognizing them to show your appreciation and to inspire the rest…

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Blog

Recognition is More Than a Solution: It’s a Culture

How often do you hear managers or leaders say: “We need a new system to manage recognition of employees” or “We need to be rewarding people for their work.” In many organizations, reward and recognition programs are still in their infancy; managers and leaders realize their importance, but often they…

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people in the workplace smiling
Blog

Embrace Careers Without Boundaries

Are you still asking employees “Where do you see yourself in five years?” when they come to an interview? Are you disgruntled when their response suggests they may leave your company for new pastures? There’s no doubt that the way people work has changed due partly to the prevailing attitudes…

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person leading showing coworkers
Blog

Are Your Leaders Fair and Just?

“The relationships leaders forge with employees is the cornerstone of leadership.” Journal of Applied Psychology The idea that leaders impact employees is nothing new. Leadership has gained much attention over the last few years with the aim of creating purposeful, efficient workplaces that tailor to the needs of employees both…

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Blog

Employee Communications: A New Angle

How critical is employee communication? Consider this: companies on the low end of the employee engagement band are also the ones who put little to no effort into it. Internal communication initiatives are vital tools for building and sustaining a culture of trust and transparency. It’s what bonds everyone —…

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person working looking stressed/angry
Blog

How to Handle “Radioactive” Employees

With Halloween just around the corner it’s time to take stock in what’s really scary. Ghosts and goblins? Not so much. Actively disengaged employees on the other hand? Yikes! When we talk about employee engagement, we usually focus on the positive side of the scenario: increased productivity, reduced attrition and…

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Sustainability Without Operational Discipline Is Just Messaging
Sustainability is now standard language in meetings and incentive travel. RFPs reference ESG commitments. Hotels promote certifications. Destinations highlight environmental initiatives. Carbon calculators appear in proposals as a matter of course. This evolution is positive and necessary. However, the presence of sustainability language does not guarantee sustainable execution. There is an increasing gap between what is promised and what is operationally delivered.
Why Recognition Is the Most Powerful Tool to Protect High Performers
Organizations often treat recognition as a perk — something nice to have, something extra. But for high performers, recognition is not a perk. It is protection. High performers carry tremendous emotional and cognitive weight. They take on more work. They solve more problems. They mentor more peers. They generate more impact. And they do it all without asking for much in return. But every human has a tipping point. And without recognition, high performers hit theirs much faster.
The Myth of the Unbreakable High Performer
High performers are often described with an almost mythic quality: resilient, unstoppable, reliable, self-driven, limitless. They are the employees leaders depend on — the ones who say yes when others hesitate, who push harder, who deliver when the stakes are highest. But there’s a dangerous flaw embedded in this mythology: High performers are not unbreakable. They are simply quiet about the breaking. This misconception is costing organizations dearly.
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