The carrot or the stick? Why we all need some incentive

Incentive is a word not often used when people consider their daily lives and interactions with others but it is safe to say that without incentive the very fabric of our society would break down overnight.

How so? I hear you say, well let us consider the basics of incentive. Imagine I wanted to receive lots of comments on this post, if I were to offer £50 for every comment received I think I would probably receive a fair number and that would be the effect of providing an incentive. Similarly I could announce that failure to comment on this post would result in having your legs broken, that of course is a sanction but it could provide an equally effective incentive to comply with my requests if you believed that;

 a) I was serious in my intention and;
 b) I was capable of carrying out the threat.

So incentives can be in the form of rewards or the threat of sanctions.

Employers have known for a long time that if they want to attract the top people into their organisation, get the very best out of them and just as importantly keep them happy and committed then they have to offer decent rewards and incentives. Retailers too realise that its important to offer incentives in order to attract shoppers through their doors. That's why we are bombarded by things such as buy one get one free and other seemingly fantastic offers such as; Buy the moon, nothing to pay in the first year, then 48 easy payments of a trillion pounds and of course the obligatory 99pence!

 If your incentive is to lose weight then we are helpfully encouraged to eat organic weeds, barley water soup and something that looks straight out of a cats litter tray for breakfast. It doesn't stop there, we are also given an incentive to stay on the right side of the law, with monetary fines and the potential loss of your driving license for any misdemeanors. Even avoidance of having a parking ticket slapped on your windscreen is an incentive to pay the correct fee and park within the bay properly. So it seems wherever we look we see incentives and sanctions being used to encourage us to work harder, buy particular products and even to make us comply with the rules that society dictates. 

On a global scale incentives are routinely used to ensure compliance with international law. They play a huge part in inter-governmental diplomacy and relationships, where so called 'rogue states' are offered lots of financial and technological aid if they give up the policies that worry western governments and have economic and other sanctions imposed if they don't.
So do you always need incentives to achieve what you want or need? Well I think you probably do, most people need a carrot to perform at their best or comply to the rules of society all of the time, albeit the benefit they receive may not be in monetary or goods terms, keeping your liberty and freedoms is a powerful incentive to live within the law. And then there are the likes of Parents,volunteers and carers whose likely incentive is more spiritual, or an emotional attachment and a desire to help loved ones achieve a semblance of well-being. So bearing all this in mind perhaps you'd like to comment on this post........for free of course, ..your incentive? well just remember that legs are important! 😉

Mayday Mayday, Man Down (Chapter 2)

The sound from the alarm clock only ceased when a hairy outstretched arm banged down hard on its snooze button to end its insistent pecking for another day.

Reece turned onto his side to view the dial though he knew he had set the alarm for 5.30am. Some habits were hard to break. He turned it off via the slide switch to ensure it did not reprise its role in 5 minutes time and turned onto his back staring at the ceiling.

These moments were always the same it seemed, wondering what jobs the days work would bring. Ponder by name, Ponder by nature it seemed for Reece Ponder was a paramedic, and he liked to think, a very good one and he reveled in the daily lottery of calls which would invariably see him thrust into the middle of some peoples darkest hours but also have the satisfaction of knowing that on most occasions he played a small part in the process of their recovery, however long that would take.

Reece was not to know that today would not be most occasions.

He threw the duvet off his body and lurched out onto his feet, before gingerly loping across the landing to the bathroom. In the shower Reece thought about his upcoming shift and chuckled as he realized the date. May 1st. That always got the crews laughing. Mayday Mayday, man down!

He finished in the shower and got dressed into his work gear before gulping down two weetabix and slurping down a cup of strong tea. It was always a last minute rush to get in the car and drive the 5 miles to the ambulance station but Reece didn't feel minded to change his routine to allow a more sedate start to his day. Rushing was part of his day and he liked it that way.

He drove through the gates of the ambulance station and parked around the back of the building in the space allotted for staff parking. Lostwherewithall was a smallish town in size but was just big enough to prevent everyone knowing each other or some other member of their family, so prevented lots of gossip when fate or just bad luck intervened in someones day. Grabbing his shoulder bag he locked his car and turned to walk into the building noticing at once Sharon Marshall or 'Shaz' as she was known by the team also walking in.

Sharon was his work partner today and she was always brilliant to work alongside. Not only was she a damn good ambulance technician she was also an unrivaled ambulance driver. When the blues and twos were in operation she went into a kind of intense concentration that Reece had never seen before. 

Many a time while travelling at speed she had anticipated the ill judged manoeuvres of other drivers or pedestrians and avoided calamities untold with just the slightest mutter to herself and her eyes never straying from the road ahead. This helped to keep Reece calm and able to gather his thoughts about the upcoming job.

Their shift started slowly, it seemed the town was having a good health and accident free day, which was great unless you were tired of checking the equipment and expiry dates of consumables in an ambulance! Reece had to admit he was a bit bored. He wasn't happy having a 'relaxing' day no matter if the company was amiable. Time was dragging and Reece was beginning to wish he was on a leave day.

The call when it came was something of a shock. Reports of a man collapsed at the Littlehope health centre. Details were sketchy, which was not unusual but it seemed the patient had attended a booked appointment and had suffered a medical event while there. Sharon soon had her foot hard on the accelerator pedal. The center was less than 10 minutes from the ambulance station and they were soon drawing up outside. Reece jumped down and grabbing his medical bag moved quickly in through the doors where he was immediately shown into one of the consultation rooms by the receptionist.

Doctor Anzus who had been reviewing the patient filled them in on the actions taken since the patient had collapsed. Reece checked for vital signs as Sharon wound a blood pressure cuff around his arm. The receptionist Nicola had informed them that the patient was named Jeremy Cann, a local man in his late fifties who had made a private appointment complaining of general malaise.

"Is the cuff fully inflated?" he asked Sharon,

" Yes, it's as tight as a noose" she replied.

"His blood pressure has dropped and I think he is slipping into cardiac arrest"

They worked quickly to initiate CPR. Dr Anzus assisted Reece with this as Sharon left to update control and request further assistance. 30 chest compression's, 2 breaths, rinse and repeat endlessly it seemed until they would stop to check output. Shocks were administered, more in hope than expectation but nothing stirred on the screen.

How long? asked reece,

15 minutes and counting.

Back on the chest and cycle after cycle of CPR continued for 10 more minutes until doctor and paramedic were agreed that continuing was futile, Mr Jeremy Cann was sadly deceased.

Dr Anzus dabbed at his sweating brow with a handkerchief and Reece took a couple of deep breaths to gather himself after all the physical exertion. Despite his better judgment of how he should be thinking at this time he couldn't help the thought from coming into his mind. 

Mayday Mayday Man Down!