Adrian Gostick

When at work you are expected to remain somber and humorless, especially in this economy. Right? And yet research shows humor adds a sense of positivity and optimism in a negative environment. When you laugh or smile, it indicates you are happy and engaged in what you are doing.

A year ago Scott Christopher and I wrote the book The Levity Effect: Why it Pays to Lighten Up. In it we featured a host of research showing how fun at work increases the bottom line. An article from World at Work recently reinforced the point. The authors write:

Humor can help in employee retention. When stress levels are booming and the ability to solve a problem seems to diminish, humor acts an effective tool. It aids oneself to recline and start afresh. Working under stress can blemish the outcome hence it is required that you first pacify, attain stability and then try to achieve. Humor is the ingredient that can result into a successful recipe.

Humor also alleviates the degree of bonding between the employees and their organization. You feel connected to the workplace because humor provides with a sense of comfort. It highlights your creative intelligence and the ability to make others happy in an environment where it is utmost important.

Humor translates positive emotions. How can a positive emotion not add to ascendancy? It either shows that you are ecstatic or on the pathway to attain contentment.

At the Thanksgiving table Uncle Eddie dives into the mashed potatoes, Cousin Nikki the rolls and salad, Aunt Ruth would drink gravy if she could, and little Tyler saves room for pumpkin pie.

All of us are driven by a desire to dig in, but each of us chooses to receive it in different ways. New research shows the same is true with recognition. While sincere appreciation drives performance in everyone, there are some differences in the way younger and older employees want to receive it.

The findings below are unpublished data from a global study conducted for us by Towers Perrin* for the second edition of The Carrot Principle.

We found people 25 and under (younger employees) are motivated by working with a successful organization and doing exciting, challenging work. Want to keep them happy and engaged? Then give them regular promotions and formal recognition for their work efforts. The data shows their engagement increases as they feel that their work is noticed, has an impact on the company and their own careers, and that the organization cares about them.

We also found that you, as a manager, are the most significant factor in these younger employees’ attitudes towards their organizations. A positive impression of their manager leads to positive impressions of their company, and vice versa.

Of course, we don’t stay young forever (sadly).

As employees develop in their careers, their shifting desires turn from seeking to be noticed to needing to be empowered. Employees age 25 and up (older employees) are primarily driven by a need to feel their company and manager trusts them to perform. These workers are also motivated by doing exciting and challenging work, but thrive on duties with variety. Like younger employees, they want to work with a successful organization with a strong future, but they value more autonomy. While they need recognition to be engaged, they do not need it as frequently as younger workers.

So, can everyone get what they want?

As a manager, it’s your job to help drive engagement at all levels of an employee’s career. We know, it’s a hard job—but that’s why you get the corner office and comfy leather chair.

Here’s one thing to think about as you look to engaging your people. In our research in The Carrot Principle we uncovered the number one driver of engagement for employees universally is Opportunity and Well-being. Employees must feel that they have the necessary opportunity to develop, advance their careers, and enhance their skills. They also need to feel their manager and company care about them as individuals.

“Opportunity and Well-being” is the Thanksgiving meal itself—something everyone wants. From there, however, we see an interesting preference emerge in the number two driver of engagement. Younger employees feel engaged when they are given clear goals and feel “accountability” for the results. Accountability is still important to older workers, but not as important as “trust.” As we age we want to feel that management has faith in our abilities, and we want to feel our leadership has integrity.

So, in short, everyone wants to grow and develop; everyone wants to know their boss cares about them. Younger workers thrive on deadlines and clear responsibility; as we get older we are driven by a need to work in a trust-filled environment.

And we all want recognition. But as we age, we get less and less.

Here’s some more meat from the survey. While 44 percent of those surveyed below the age of 25 say they “frequently receive recognition” at work, by the time someone reaches age 35 that number drops to 30 percent. Again, 44 percent of those under age 25 said recognition was “excellent” in their organization, while only 25 percent of those over age 35 agreed.

So what creates great recognition? In one word: alignment. When appreciation is aligned with values and goals that matter, it is more motivating for younger and older workers alike. For instance, if we say our company is all about customer service, but the majority of our recognition praises operating improvements or teamwork or innovation, we are probably misaligned. It’s an important finding that teaches us to be specific in focusing appreciation on great work that drives our company forward.

But once again we see an interesting split on the second driver of recognition based on age. Appreciation needs to be “meaningful” for the young. In other words, recognition is most effective when the gratitude itself is an important event in the person’s life, evoking positive feelings. The appreciation event should also show that the company cares about them as an individual. For older workers, however, emotion is not as important as is specific acknowledgement of their above-and-beyond “performance.” As we mature, we want to know that our individual or team performance is valued.

Bottom line: Everyone on your team is ready and willing to dig in. While each member will be motivated in slightly unique ways, the good news is that everyone at the table loves Carrots.

*2008 Global Recognition Study commissioned by O.C. Tanner and conducted by Towers Perrin.

In his book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, executive coach Marshall Goldsmith lists 20 bad habits we need to break at work. If you can read these without feeling at least a little guilty you are either about to receive sainthood or are in denial.

The list includes:

• The need to win all the time
• The desire to add our two-cents in every discussion
• Making sarcastic or cutting remarks
• Passing the buck
• Failing to give recognition
• Taking the credit when it’s not ours to take.

Goldsmith lists ways to break such habits. It’s a good read and much needed advice. After all, don’t we all have our share of bad habits at work, and taking accountability for our negative behavior will help define us as a better person.

Benjamin Franklin had advice for such a journey: Don’t eat the elephant in one sitting. Old Ben worked on one bad habit a week.

But where to start? Here’s one idea. To shake things up, instead of a usual to-do list, this week why not write out a do-not list? Put on it everyday actions you want to do less of—insist I get my way, horde credit for every success, eat junk food, make unnecessary comments in meetings, daydream I’m Batman, etc. Who knows, a week of reading such jarring reminders may help us improve in at least one area.

The point from all this is simple: Take small steps to do more of the things that lead you to a better place and less of the things you consider bad habits.

Have you ever told your kids, nephews or nieces, or grandkids that honesty is the best policy? An interesting article in The Journal of Moral Education suggests we as adults may not always follow that policy when communicating with our children.

While just about all of us encourage our kids to never lie, children’s behavior is largely influenced by our own say authors Heyman and Luu of the University of California San Diego and Lee of the University of Toronto.

The researchers found 88 percent of students say their parents have used a lie to get them to do something or make their lives easier, such as: if you cry in the grocery store the police will come, that rainbow appeared just for you, if you’re not good Santa won’t bring you any presents, if you cross your eyes long enough they’ll stay that way, etc. Here’s the one that haunts me: When my son was four-years-old and a picky eater, I told him that the sandwich in front of him had been prepared by his mother, since he was convinced I couldn’t make acceptable lunches. After he ate the food and said it was fine, I said, “Ha, I made the PB & J!” He was not only royally ticked off by my manipulation, but still remembers my lie to this date—and he’s 14 now.

The morale of the story is this: we need to be careful as parents when telling white lies. We may think they are for the greater good, but if we are caught it can undermine our credibility for a long, long time. Not only that, psychologists say that children are actually quite adept at reading faces and emotional cues. Even if you think you are good with your little white lies, chances are they will pick up on your fibs.

This is a good business lesson too. Most of think we are scrupulously honest. And yet we are rarely as lily white as we believe. The gray areas we play around in business can undermine our credibility with colleagues, bosses and customers.

I had a chance last week to visit the headquarters of online retailer Zappos.com, one of the world’s fastest growing companies. Over the last 8 years since inception, Zappos has grown to more than $1 billion in revenue (from a zero start). If you’ve shopped Zappos you know they have a great product strategy—allowing you to shop for shoes and other stuff with free shipping both ways. So, in effect, you can try on a pair of Hush Puppies and never leave home.

While their business model is fantastic, most impressive were the employees I met. I get to visit a dozen or more companies each year, and I’ve never seen a culture like this. As you tour the Las Vegas headquarters (wearing your mandatory crown) you quickly note that Zappos’ lives its core value of “Create Fun and a Little Weirdness.” Where do I begin to explain? There’s the fashion department that takes pictures of visitors (pretending they are paparazzi), or how about the finance department (yes those fun and crazy accountants) who were cleaning up from their soap box car race, or the customer service reps who were cracking jokes with customers on the phone (they are encouraged to), or the parking lot that had been the site of a petting zoo the day before (so employees could cuddle a goat) … I could go on and on.

We’ll get more into Zappos amazing culture and financial success in our new book next fall. But here’s something fun right now. I met with two extremely atypical call center managers, Maura Sullivan and Rob Siefker.

Rob told me about SNAP recognition that happens in their Customer Loyalty Teams. SNAP stands for Super Nifty and Positive Stuff. “We do SNAPs in our Zuddles, or Zappos huddles, and we just had one earlier,” he said.

“We like to put Zs in front of things,” Maura quipped.

Rob explained, “The lead supervisors and managers have ours Zuddles at 9:15 and 3:15 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It’s quick, what’s going on in the call center, are there any big ticket items we need to discuss, big news that we need to pass down, and then at the end we do SNAPs. There’s a little box in the call center and people write things that someone else did that was really cool. These are read during the Zuddles and then the person is publicly recognized on the spot. It’s peer-to-peer. Then we all snap our fingers. (Maura and Rob both demonstrate for me, as if I’ve never seen snapping, and are laughing like they just thought up this idea. They are so darn upbeat I can’t help laughing with them.)

Adds Maura, “It’s been a fun way to make sure we’re recognizing each other, even for the little things, the things that make a difference culturally for our environment. We have a lot of fun with it.”
Like every business Zappos faces challenges. But it’s one business that has learned how to have fun while growing and succeeding.