Adrian Gostick

What percent of managers don’t recognize their employees? Would you guess 25 percent? What about 50?

Nope, a full 74 percent of leaders don’t recognize their employees for one reason or another. Some of these folks strongly believe that employees don’t need recognition—but are motivated only by pay. Some of them feel they don’t have time to recognize, while others are worried that jealousies will arise if they recognize one team member and not another. Not surprisingly, our research shows this group of managers have less productive teams than their recognizing peers.
Worst of all among those managers who don’t recognize is those who are actually negative about appreciation. One third of all managers fall into that category.
I’ve asked leadership groups if they know some of these managers, those who shouldn’t be allowed be allowed to play with other children. Many people laugh and heads start bobbing like oil wells on the Texas prairie.
These Negatives may have been great individual contributors, but that doesn’t mean we should allow them to lead others. The great organizations we work with promote not based on seniority, skills or education, but on a person’s aptitude to inspire their workforce.

Last Friday Chester Elton and I spoke to the International Association of Speakers Bureaus—a group that helps meeting planners find the right content and presenters for their conferences.
After we finished speaking, Wolf Blitzer of CNN took the stage to interview speaking industry legend Don Walker, CEO of the Harry Walker Agency in NYC.

As background, Don’s 60-year-old agency is number one—representing such figures as Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Bono, Freakonomics authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, and other household names. After listening to Don for about three minutes, I grabbed a Fairmont Hotel pad and started scribbling notes. What he had to say was that good.
Don believes his industry is in the “marketplace of ideas.” And when is the need greater for the free-flow of thoughts and innovation than during a downturn in the economy? He said this meltdown might just make our businesses stronger in the end; yet he recalled the words of Winston Churchill, who after being told that losing an election might be a blessing in disguise, muttered, “Well, it’s well disguised.”
Don stressed the importance of working together with competitors to climb out of the morass, to continue attending association meetings and conferences to share best practices. He punctuated this point with an African saying, “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
Finally, Don reminded us that continuing education will help us become experts in our respective fields. “You don’t know who’s swimming naked until the tide goes out,” he quipped. And right now, the tide is out. The economy is clearing the beach of pretenders. Only those who are serious about their crafts will remain behind.
The moral of Don’s message is this: Don’t abandon your friends. Attend your industry meetings, conventions and education sessions. Be an active part of the marketplace of ideas and you just might thrive.

Our friends Harry Paul (co-author of Fish!) and Ross Reck (of Revved!) share some great insights in their new book, Instant Turnaround. Their finding is that people regulate their effort based on how well they believe they are being treated at work. We can corroborate that with our research for the second edition of The Carrot Principle. We found globally that a sense of “well-being” at work was on the top two drivers of employee engagement. In other words, when employees believe their manager and company cares about them, they’ll put in more discretionary effort—which is exactly what you need in this economy.

Harry and Ross say that you can tell if you are using fear as a motivator—which is actually de-motivating in the long term. Ask yourself these four questions:

1. Do my employees look like they are glad to see me?
2. Do my employees smile most of the time?
3. Do my employees eagerly make eye contact with me?
4. Do I feel my employees have my best interests at heart?

If you answer no to one or more of these questions, it means you are using fear as a motivator. And that means your department is underachieving, which is costing you on your performance review.
Instant Turnaround is a fun, quick read—great for an airplane ride—and will give you plenty of fuel to keep you motivating in these difficult times.

Chester Elton and I felt good enough about the book to give it a nice endorsement on the back.

Update:Check out the video Harry and Ross produced to promote the book.

We relaunched The Carrot Principle Second Edition this week! The New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller is now expanded with global research—the new 2nd Edition proves that recognition accelerates human performance everywhere in the world. We’ve had a ton of fun and have a great promotion for those who buy the book by the end of this week:

Here’s what you do:
1. Order a copy of the new book this week to qualify.
2. Use these B&N or Amazon links to purchase The Carrot Principle, Second Edition
3. Forward your Amazon or B&N confirmation email to .
4. Check your inbox for the link to your amazing bonus materials.

When you buy The Carrot Principle, Second Edition this week, you’ll receive:

• The Carrot Principle: New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling book updated with global research findings and a new employee engagement study conducted during this recession.
• The Ultimate Innovator’s Digital Anthology featuring new video instruction from a host of management experts such as Stephen M. R. Covey and Mark Sanborn!
• Just-released white paper Performance: Accelerated, which provides the proof your boss needs to understand how recognition will drive employee engagement and business results.
• How-to audio interviews with some of the World’s Greatest Managers—hosted by The Carrot Principle co-author Chester Elton.
• A downloadable poster showing how to say ‘Thank you’ in 50 languages
• And much, much more!

PLUS! You’ll entered in a drawing for an all-expense-paid 3-day, 2-night trip to the annual Carrot Culture Recognition Summit in Boston—a $4500 value!

Buy today to get the bonus materials and thanks for your support!

We have been on Fox News a few times recently talking about The Carrot Principle. The guys behind the scenes grabbed a Garrett the Carrot and have been filming segments.

You may also want to check out Garrett’s facebook page, set up by the folks at Fox.
You can see where Garrett met lots of famous people.