Most of us agree that Pay for Performance is a good thing – at least those of us who consider ourselves high performers. We like the idea that if we perform, we reap the rewards. We want to know that the employee who shops online during work hours and delivers mediocre results does not receive the same monetary rewards as those of us who regularly exceed expectations.

However, in our current down economy, many employers are holding off delivering bonuses and incentives to all employees, including high performers. In fact, if they are giving any monetary incentive at all, they are taking the “peanut butter” approach of offering the same incentive across the board. Even with salary cuts, many organizations are cutting equally across the organization. None of these approaches engage and motivate the high performers – the ones who are capable of navigating your business through these tough economic times to come out successful on the other side.

To this end, I heard a rather novel idea the other day I want to pass along for your reaction. Why not take the same organizational approach to salary reductions and performance incentives in good times and apply them in a down economy? In other words, if an organization is cutting salaries, low performers take more of a hit than high performers. This would send a powerful message throughout organizations – one the high performers would appreciate and which would still preserve an element of incentive for their effort. Your thoughts?

Like many of you, I have recommitted, as I do every New Year, to staying in shape. As a part of this commitment, I made my way to the gym along with many other like-minded individuals. Although I have been in this gym many times over the years, today the “Judgment Free Zone” sign struck me differently. Perhaps because recently I have been in many conversations focusing on what makes us different from one another – from the gifts and talents we possess to feedback on how our differences get in the way at work, with friends, and with family. It seems more often than not we are focused on how we are different versus how we are the same.

Today in the “Judgment Free Zone,” I became keenly aware of how we as individuals are alike. Regardless of how we take in information, how we process data, how we communicate or structure our lives, we are much the same. We have a desire to be successful, however we define success. We want to feel valued and that what we are doing matters to someone. We want to laugh, to feel joy. We want to have friends, to be connected to others. We want to be heard. We want to love and be loved.

While it is healthy to recognize and value our uniqueness and that of others, often we only focus on our differences. Perhaps if we focused a little more on how we are alike as human beings, we would experience less frustration and more understanding.