Time to Inspire

A few years ago, I was the CPO of a tech company that was facing war time. Revenue wasn’t where it needed to be. Our team had grown too fast. We were bleeding out our investors money and time was ticking. After many days of deliberation of ways to cut opex and increase short term revenue, we arrived at the dreaded acronym, a RIF.

A Reduction in Force. If you’ve ever had to do one, you know the pain. It’s failure and guilt and anxiety all rolled into one.

We also were cautious about this strategy. We knew the knock on negative effect RIFs have - they often don’t just trim the fat, they sometimes cut to the bone with top performers losing faith in the future of the business and voting with their feet.

We still had stars—people who were pushing culture forward and delivering exceptional results. We needed to retain them through the RIF. So we tried something different.

We called it RIF/RAF: a dual strategy that focused not just on reduction, but also on the Retention of the Awesome Force—the people we couldn’t afford to lose.

We created two lists - one list was the RIFs, the other the RAFs. What we needed to do for the RIFs was more obvious - have a clear reason why, be generous with the exit, be a gracious and kind human during the conversations, and have a tightly coordinated communication plan.

For RIFs, it’s all about consistency. But for the RAFs? Customization was key.

Time to Learn

The RAF approach was grounded in Daniel Pink’s Drive, which outlines three core motivators that actually lead to higher performance at work: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Rather than a one-size-fits-all reward system, we created a menu of support options that mapped to each motivator. 

Think:

 • More ownership over key projects (for those driven by autonomy)

 • A shift into work that felt more mission-driven (for those motivated by purpose)

 • Budget for coaching or advanced learning (for those that were seeking mastery)

Then we sat down with each high performer and had a conversation—not just about staying, but about growing. We asked what recognition would feel meaningful to them and made it happen. This wasn’t favoritism. It was customization. It was love language understanding at work.

The message was simple: “We see you. We need you. Let’s go.”

The essence of our strategy lay in offering a diverse array of recognition options—ranging from increased autonomy in projects to opportunities for skill mastery and alignment with purposeful work. By allowing individuals to choose what would make them feel valued and recognized, we ensured that our efforts were genuinely impactful. This bespoke approach to recognition is, I believe, the future of employee engagement.

Here is a worksheet to help you understand motivators and make them actionable with your team!

Time to Connect

Whether you’re a CEO, People leader, or just trying to build a better team—here’s a way to connect with your best people. Ask this question of your top performers today:

“What would make you feel more valued and supported right now?”

Follow it with this:

“Let’s find a way to make that happen.”

Recognition doesn’t have to be equal to be fair. It has to be honest and equitable. And when your best people feel seen, they don’t just stay—they lead.

Let’s stop defaulting to reduction. Let’s get better at retention.

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My company, ScaleJOY, has grown solely through word of mouth and by delivering quality experiences to the hundreds of clients we have supported. Spread the word by sharing this newsletter or connecting them directly to me for leadership development, coaching or offsite facilitation. Thank you for your continued support!