Puppies are wonderful, but they are so much work! It’s amazing how quickly they learn behaviors that have been reinforced by rewards. A puppy is very motivated by treats. To housetrain a puppy, give them a reward every time they come back into the house. Pretty soon they will sit and look up for a treat.
On the other hand, it is challenging to stop a puppy from destructive behavior. We can’t give a treat for NOT chewing a shoe because the reward wouldn’t be understood. Correcting shoe chewing and jumping, however, must be addressed through corrective action. And behavior modification by corrective action just doesn’t “take” as quickly as reinforced rewards do.
Humans are more like puppies than we care to admit. Give us a treat for something, and we’ll do it again! Tell us not to do something, and we might – or might not – do it again. Many managers know that rewarded behavior is repeated and repeated. In our experience, a carrot beats the sticks every time.
The other thing that’s frequently misunderstood about carrots is the belief that the reward must be tangible, like cash or a gift card (or a doggie treat). But recognition and feedback can be motivating without any tangible reward attached. For example, if you can incorporate a graphical representation of the performance that’s desired and a graphical representation of employees’ actual performance that they can compare to, this simple feedback will be motivating even if there is no financial incentive. Achieving the goal is rewarding in itself.
Unfortunately, too many managers are much more comfortable with the stick than with the carrot. The stick is easy – an employee makes a mistake and gets reprimanded. It is much harder to create carrots that don’t seem gimmicky or manipulative.
But carrots work, and they work better! Organizations reap many benefits when they make the investment to develop the proper carrots. Managers who recognize how to use carrots will ultimately develop more productive teams. Contact the Davidson Group at 336-294-5053 to develop rewards that will produce bottom-line results.
