For most people, money is not a motivator. Money is a de-motivator. Let's make one aspect crystal clear: You can't pay people peanuts and expect them to stay motivated. Moreover, once people feel they are paid fairly, then what motivates them takes on new significance. Most people at work want to feel appreciated for what they do.

Part of being a manager is the responsibility to recognize and reward employees for good work. Disney World has more than 20 different reward and recognition programs. The easiest and simplest recognition program is peer recognition. Recognition from peers can be even more powerful than recognition from managers. Employees are often in a better position to catch someone doing something right.

What do peer-recognition programs look like? At Dayton Metro Housing, employees receive three tokens each quarter. When they spot a fellow employee or manager providing good customer service, they hand them a token. At the end of the quarter, the person with the highest number of tokens is crowned king or queen.

Those with eight or more tokens are "knighted." All the kings, queens and knights attend a special banquet. At the end of the year all token winners can use their tokens to bid on various awards and prizes. Furthermore, the individual with the highest yearly number of tokens is bequeathed a "scepter."

Managing performance in this way follows the time-honored ABC model:

Antecedent: Anything that creates the desire to act in a certain way, like the promise of a reward.

Behavior: How the employee acts.

Consequences: What happens after the act like receiving praise, appreciation, or a promised reward.

The formula for creating an energizing peer-recognition program is FASTT Fun. FASTT stands for:

Focus on the behavior you want to reward. A reward and recognition program must target specific behaviors important to the organization. Whether it is teamwork or customer service, define ahead of time the behavior you are looking for.

Avoid judging. Make it easy for anyone to get recognized or rewarded. The problem with employee-of-the-month awards is some people don't think the process is fair. By putting power into the hands of peers, and including things like random drawings, employees perceive the program to be fair.

Simplicity is vital. When it comes to peer recognition, simplicity is the rule. Keep programs simple so that everyone understands immediately how it works. The easier the program is to run, the more likely it will work. After about six months, you may want to consider changing the program in order to maintain interest and enthusiasm.

Team ownership is required. Peer recognition works best when employees run and own the program. Give them a dollar figure, and let them figure out the rest. Be sure to choose a mix of formal and informal leaders for the implementation team. When people "own" the program, they will more likely make it work.

Timely is the watchword. Hand out rewards or recognition weekly, monthly, or quarterly, not annually. Reinforcing the behavior you want takes continual effort.

Fun speaks for itself. Make the peer recognition program as fun, entertaining, and spontaneous as possible. If you want people to participate, the program has to be fun and have an element of surprise.

Our company helped develop a program for a retail employer in which employees had access to a printed form they could use to praise co-workers for desirable traits, like teamwork and good service. Once filled out, the slips of paper ended up on the company bulletin board.

The person who received the highest quantity of the forms got special recognition from the store manager. But then all the individual forms were placed in a basket, and other names were drawn randomly for even more prizes and recognition.

Lack of recognition and praise is a major reason why people become dissatisfied with their jobs. Easy to implement and effective, peer-recognition programs could be the spark that motivates your people to perform at a high level of dedication and skill for years to come.

Gregory P. Smith leads the management consulting firm called Chart Your Course in Conyers, Ga. He can be reached via e-mail at greg@chartcourse.com.