The SUPERBRU games are really a wonderful and fun way to learn and experience some of the key ingredients of successful incentive recipes used to improve corporate performance.

Fundamentally there are 4 main structural reward and award programmes types companies can use to improve their current performance.

None of them are better than the other, the challenge is rather the find the right blend for the specific problem within an individual and team environment.

MERIT BASED: The pool and global winners are not subjective winners. The competition is rule based, which are well explained and illustrated.

RESULTS DISCLOSURE: The results are not hidden in a black box and then once a year the results are announced, SuperBru provides a full comprehensive audit trail support the points calculation.

EMPLOYEE PREFERENCE: SuperBru realises that we are all different, and thus provides more than just one game to play. Having separate games for Rugby, Soccer, Footy, Cricket etc increase participant participation.

PERFORMANCE URGENCY: You simply cannot win the game if you start late.

DAILY DISCIPLINE: While we all have bad prediction weeks, ill discipline in skipping weeks leads to bad results.

POINT SIMPLICITY: To take part is very easy and scoring points are very simple. Take the Super 14 for example: In real life it is a complex tournament for the coach: team selection, injuries, board influence, reaction to media etc. all play a role in performance. BUT the point scoring remain simple – after all has been considered, evaluated and predicted there is league 4 points for a win. This simplicity lead to the situation that with weeks to go in the 2008 league, 8 teams could still qualify. AND look at the SuperBru participation – just short of 30,000 players. More than the complex fantasy games.

HEADLINE NEWS: Incentive have lesser influence on results if they are not religiously promoted. Just look at SuperBru’s use of BanterBoard, email updates and homepage news.

MANAGERIAL INCOLVEMENT: The Captain has a duty to keep his team playing, with the dreaded REJECT option as a last alternative. Players perform better if the Captain

FREQUENT RESULTS: Superbru published the results every week, so there is no uncertainty about performance or log positions. This effectively allows players to determine strategies based on factual up-to-date information.

SYSTEM BACKDOOR: If for some reason or another the system does not accept your prediction SuperBu provides alternatives. What you want is participants to take part to give you performance, not create additional hurdles to hinder performance for your staff. So while the scoring rules are fixed, getting there is NOT.

FUN: Well not all work is play, but there is absolutely no reason why work cannot be made fun and enjoyed.

SANCTIONS: There is a price to pay for only focussing your attention to a specific performance: the boss and the spouse may frown on you while you spend lots of time with your complex prediction methodology.