There’s a special place in corporate heaven for the “Top Salesperson” slide. You know the one: giant photo, huge number, maybe a quote about “hustle,” and 90 seconds of applause before everyone goes back to doing… exactly what they were doing before. No one sells more. No one invents more. But hey, Jamie got a crystal obelisk, so that’s something.

Research suggests these efforts may actually sabotage your best people (and your up-and-coming best people).

I saved an article to Mymind (link hoarding service), and it has a “serendipity” button that surfaces old articles I’ve saved to remind me that I thought it was interesting in the past and may still. And today I got an article I saved from 2022. And it prompted this post.

Mymind linked me to a study I saved that found when first‑time creators of novel ideas get awards and recognition, they become less likely to produce future creative work.

In other words, your “Innovation of the Year” award may be the last good thing that person ever creates for you.

You Are Accidentally Ruining Your Most Creative Employees

Here’s what the researchers found:

  • When people create something novel and get rewarded, they start seeing themselves as a special “creative person.” 
  • That shiny new identity suddenly needs protection. 
  • Producing something new that might flop becomes terrifying. The person is worried that their next effort won’t live up to the legend? 

The employee has to protect that reputation, and the best way to do that is not have another “risky” event of creativity. You can’t fail if you never try again.

Inside your company, this looks like:

  • The product manager who shipped a big hit and then mysteriously moved into “special projects.” 
  • The sales rep who had that year won everything and has been gently coasting on renewals ever since. 

You didn’t reward them. You froze them.

Outcome Worship: Corporate’s Favorite Religion

Most employee recognition programs are unapologetically outcome‑obsessed:

  • Largest sales number. 
  • Most revenue from a new product. 
  • Highest NPS, best margin, most patents. 

All spotlight, zero process.

This outcome‑only spotlight creates an extra layer of stress that actually reduces creativity. Once someone has that big visible win, the stakes of the next move feel enormous. Better to milk the first idea forever than risk a “meh” follow‑up.

Flip the Script: Reward the Recipe, Not Just the Cake

How to fix this? Stop handing out trophies for cake, and start rewarding the recipe, too.

For example, instead of the standard “Top Salesperson” based on dollar amount, include a “Most Valuable Sales Process” award for the rep who fully documented how they prospected, nurtured, and closed a new type of client. Not a competitive award – but an adjacent and connected one.

This structure is really powerful because it does three things at once:

  • It recognizes the person
  • Reduces the fear of future failure because you’re praising *methods*, and not some mythical genius all the while
  • Creates a living guidebook for everyone else who has an idea or a client list but no clue what to do next. 

Your top people don’t become one‑hit wonders; they become walking playbooks.

Turn Heroes into How‑To Manuals

The research suggests that when people are faced with continuing their creative journey after an award‑winning first idea, many choose to exploit the original idea rather than create something new.

They protect the shrine rather than build a bigger temple.

Make Failure a KPI (Yes, Really)

I posted recently on the idea of failure as a goal in my post “Are you ready for “Institutionalized Serendipity”?

Think of failure as a valid outcome. IMO failure is an important part of growth, learning, and frankly – fun.

If you only glorify the one clean hit, you teach everyone to:

  • Wait for a perfect idea. 
  • Hide anything that doesn’t immediately look brilliant. 

Instead, celebrate teams that ran the most experiments, even if only one worked. Or recognize salespeople who tried three new approaches that failed but shared what they learned so others didn’t waste time. Conduct product postmortems for failed product concepts that died for good reasons and what those reasons taught the company. 

This reduces creative anxiety and floods the organization with practical “what not to do,” which is arguably more valuable than one polished success story.

From One‑Hit Wonders to Repeat Offenders

Your reward system can either manufacture one‑hit wonders… or repeat offenders.

So keep your trophies if you must. Just add new criteria:

  • Less “biggest number on the slide.” 
  • More “clearest path others can follow.” 

Because the real power move isn’t putting one genius on a pedestal.

It’s turning their process into the user manual for everyone else who has a great idea—or a great client list—and is just waiting for someone to show them what to do next.