Whoever decided their employees should play games at work? Back in the 90s I had college suite mates who never saw second semester because they spent the bulk of their first semester playing video games. They never got much done because they never seemed to focus on work.

We love the thought of incentives driving productivity and rewards tied to growth. There's a pile of data out there that justifies the spend for a catalog or points for travel. We spent countless resources after the recession finding data points that proved programs worked and improved their effectiveness. And finally, a breather letting us focus on business as usual. Right?

At Augeo we like to say, "design around your goals and let nothing muddy those waters". It's true in any program we design, whether it's for employee engagement, a meeting, conference or event, and especially with a sales incentive program.

How often have your marketing folks toiled and sweated to create brand marketing about a new product or service, spent months training the organization on delivery, and working with sales to crystallize your key attributes – only to have your dealers or partners "amplify on your behalf" with an abomination of your message?

When approaching your boss' office, sales incentive budget in hand, ready to ask for final approval on your incentive program, it's one of those sweaty palm, do-or-die moments. Make a mistake here and you know it's going to be visible, memorable—and ugly. Who wants to be remembered as the "genius" who went over budget and had to downgrade the travel incentive from Rome to Rochester?