Adrian Gostick

Before working with corporate groups, we’ll send out pre-surveys that ask employees to note the last time they were recognized. How would you answer that question? While we’ve shown in our research the most productive workplaces provide specific praise to their people every seven days, the majority of workers we survey say it’s been at least six months since their last public recognition moment, and about a third say it’s been longer than a year. Yikes!

One simple way to begin building a Carrot Culture is to remember that effective recognition is frequent. To hit that “every seven days” goal, your methods will vary from providing specific words of encouragement, to hand writing a note of thanks, to thanking a team member in a staff meeting, and so on.

Almost all of us understand the need for this type of frequent recognition in our personal lives, but we don’t translate this to our business lives. Think of it this way: Have you ever been in love? How often do you tell your significant other that you love them? In our personal lives, we tell those closest to us that they are important to us just about every day. We say it with three simple words, “I love you.”

At work, it’s even easier. We tell employees that they are important to us by saying just two words, “thank you,” about once a week. Now don’t get those two mixed up! But ask yourself, how often do you tell those that work with and for you that you appreciate them?

To illustrate this point, the amazing animator Sean Womack has put together a fabulous little film. It takes about a minute to watch, and I promise you’ll never forget the message.

Check out the world premiere of Don’t Say I Love You right now, and send this link along.

I did an interview yesterday with Rick Corrado, host of “The Independent Business Owner” show on VoiceAmerica’s Business Channel. I mentioned how a recognition award should fit the achievement, and Rick gave an interesting anecdote. Before becoming a successful entrepreneur, Rick said a good friend of his worked for a large corporation. The man was a rising star, and developed a new product that brought a whopping $6 million into the corporation. This fellow and his teammates were summoned before the CEO, who praised their efforts. But the CEO ruined the sentiment by rewarding them for their hard work with a company t-shirt.

Do you think this fellow or anyone around him ever went above and beyond again? Of course not. In fact, Rick says the star employee quit the following month. Instead of making this company successful, he went on to use his genius for his own benefit.
Obviously, all carrots are not created equal. In some cases, a t-shirt is a fine reward for a simple job well done. It is certainly possible to take an object of little value and make it more valuable. Remember how badly you coveted that gold star in grade school? The star had no value apart from what you and your fellow students gave it. By the same token, wouldn’t you prize a handwritten note of appreciation from your boss? We’ve seen handwritten notes and cards from supervisors posted on hundreds of cubicles and office walls throughout the world. Why? Because the recognition is rare and valuable. But for Rick’s friend, who had obviously gone well above what was expected in his position, a t-shirt was a poor reward. He wanted something lasting to remind him of that remarkable achievement.
We’ve heard the tale of the t-shirt/mug/coffee-card more than once. In fact, we often get called in after a hideous, large-scale award fiasco. Many companies want to make sure they never repeat the mistake.
The moral of this story is: To have the intended effect, a reward’s value should be an appropriate symbol of the employee’s effort and its outcome. Remember, value isn’t the only qualification for an effective award. Just as importantly, the reward should be tangible and memorable.
There are a lot of onions out there masquerading as carrots. A thoughtless award can leave a bad taste in an employee’s mouth.

Flipping through the July Special Report of Money magazine, it’s hard to miss the glowing Carrot on page 21. Tyler Cowen, professor of economics at George Mason University, has written an article that says to get your people working harder in this economy you’ve got to “dole out cheap carrots.”

Professor Cowen states, “Offering bonuses for superior performance works, but that’s not an option when your budget has been cut to the bone.” He cited a study by Kaisen Consulting, showing employees actually ranked “financial reward” as only No. 6 in a list of work motivators. “Far more important,” Cowen notes, “recognition and a sense of accomplishment. So ladle on the praise for a job well done.”
Well said professor.
The doctor also doled out some other advice to get your people to give their all. First, he said you must roll up your sleeves yourself. Next, he reminds us to create a sense of urgency with measurable goals and specific deadlines. And finally he says we must treat our people fairly.
While I agree with the idea that unfair treatment breeds resentment, I do question Cowen when he recommends we “fake” the “love” for employees we don’t like. I have 14 people who work in my group, and I can honestly say I like them all. When we have someone we don’t get along with on our group, there’s usually an underlying problem in communication and trust that must be addressed. I think a “fake it” approach puts our heads firmly in the sand.

The second edition of The Carrot Principle hits the BusinessWeek Bestseller list.

The authors, long devoted to the dissemination of “carrot culture,” are back, listing techniques for recognizing and praising the performers in an organization, the thing so many managers are afraid to do.

If you had employee satisfaction levels at the 92nd percent nationally, would you be looking to improve? Keith Steffen is.

I had a chance this week to present to the 300 senior leaders of the Order of Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, Illinois. This 6,000-person hospital system is typically ranked among the best in the nation for patient outcomes, but I was interested in how Chief Administrator Keith Steffen and his team get such amazing engagement scores.

Keith and his VP of HR Lynn Gillespie invited me in because, like most organizations, their employee survey scores on recognition were lower than they wanted. Their recognition ratings are above average for the nation, but they knew that if they could impact recognition positively they could maintain and even improve their employee engagement scores and resulting care for their patients.

As we began the meeting, Keith had some powerful things to say about appreciating their employees. “A simple thank you means so much, but often we leaders get busy and forget the little things. But everyone wants to be acknowledged for their hard work.” Wouldn’t you want to work for a CEO like that?

Keith went on to explain that effective recognition has key takeaways for our employees. It:

1. Helps align employee behaviors with key strategic initiatives
2. Improves employee retention (still a big issue in healthcare)
3. Allows employees to understand the role they play in the organization’s success
4. Reinforces positive behaviors
5. Provides a tangible reminder for the employee to take home to their families
6. Makes leaders more visible to their people
7. Re-recruits the next generation of healthcare leaders

Keith admitted, as a type-A personality, he had to teach himself Carrot behaviors. “I had to learn to look up in the halls, greet people, to look for positives,” he said. “But now I meet patients and ask them about their care. They’ll say to me, you need to meet my nurse. So I go and find the nurse and let them know what their patient said about them. Looking for positives is a learned behavior.”

Looking for positives is a learned behavior. I thought that bore repeating.

Now wherever I go, there is always a great manager or two who excels at appreciation. OSF had more than its share. Cassy Horack runs OSF’s Safety Department. She received one of the highest scores from her employees for recognition on the 2009 employee survey.

What is Cassy’s secret? She recognizes her teammates with thank you notes that she writes daily, but Cassy also recognizes other employees who exemplify safety values. Every day in huddles in various departments, Cassy finds a reason to recognize a nurse, lab tech, or other employee who has gone above-and-beyond to keep safe the hospital and those they serve.

As we closed the day of Carrots training, Keith offered this comment. “There are a lot of things that need to be cut in this economy, but recognition is not among them. I ask you to hold me accountable. Send me the names of people you want to acknowledge, and I’ll write them notes. Let’s reward the heck out of anyone who is going above-and-beyond for our organization.”

Ninety two percent in Peoria, and getting better.

As life is full of good days and bad, happy and sad, we all need encouragement and feedback to keep us upbeat, energized, and at the end of the day, feeling good about who we are and what we do. This is why sincere and defined recognition is so important to our culture and our work place environment.”
—Keith Steffen