By Dr.-Ing. Walter Tritt · A true story from the practice of the task exchange - and the lesson why personal points must stay private.
A points system has enormous power. Whether it carries a team or blows it apart is not decided by the system - but by the fuel. Fear or recognition. This is not a theory. Both happened.
Years ago I met a manager. He ran the maintenance department of a corporation - a man of action, not many words. He listened to the idea of the task exchange - tasks carry points, employees choose for themselves - and his verdict came at the very first meeting:
„Great. With this we can find the deadwood and fire them.“
I rejected that immediately, and repeatedly afterwards. Points that become a threat are no longer a tool - they are a weapon. The corporation introduced the system anyway - without me. And coupled it exactly the way the manager had announced: whoever has the fewest points has to go.
What happened next shows the raw power of the system - and its danger.
Before, the crew worked from six in the morning until two in the afternoon. Afterwards, the work was done by ten. The same output in half the time - roughly fifty percent time saved, something no bonus system in the world achieves. A dream on paper.
But the price: everyone snatched at every order, because every order meant survival. Whoever didn't get one was the next candidate. Colleagues denounced each other. A team became a collection of lone fighters under siege. Hatred took over. The project was shut down. The manager later lost his own position.
Compare that with the pilot project the idea came from: productivity plus 20 percent - carried not by fear, but by recognition. Work was taken on voluntarily, the points made visible who carries. The consultant was paid well, the company still made a good profit, the employees kept their dignity. Three winners, zero losers.
The difference is not in the size of the effect - but in its direction. Fear delivers peak performance until the engine burns out. Recognition delivers performance that lasts.
The lesson is unglamorous and strict: a points system is like dynamite. It has enormous power - and it needs a safety lock. The lock is called: points must never be able to become a threat. Not as a promise, but as a technical fact.
That is exactly why personal point balances are private in GoodPoints. Not even the leadership can view them - not out of courtesy, but because the system makes it technically impossible. Only anonymised team results are visible. Anyone who wants to use points as leverage finds no lever.
The honest truth for leaders: Whoever uses a points system to measure employees in order to sort them out will get exactly that - and lose the team in the process. Whoever makes performance visible so that it earns recognition gets a stronger team. The system does not tell the difference on its own. That is why the safety lock must be built in before anyone tries to remove it.
Whoever wants fifty percent overnight can use dynamite. Whoever wants to still have a team in ten years uses recognition.
The power of the engine is proven - in both directions. The task is not to build the engine. The task is to run it on the right fuel and never let the safety lock be removed. That is what GoodPoints stands for.
You lead a team and want to make performance visible - without surveillance?
Try GoodPoints - personal points stay private, technically enforced. Free up to 5 contributors.
Try it nowConcept and ideas: Dr.-Ing. Walter Tritt (KVD Service Management Award 1992, developed during his doctorate) · Text edited with AI assistance · Implemented as software: goodpoints.de · Further publications at www.scwt.de
© 2026 · Dr.-Ing. Walter Tritt