When Michael Gerlach at Tennessee Orthopedic Alliance (TOA) in Nashville, TN, was wondering how to improve employee morale at his organization, he decided to throw his workers a bone—literally.
Says Michael, “I thought you might enjoy hearing how The Carrot Principle has made a difference at our office. I work for a large orthopedic group and we have implemented a Spirit Bone award (think a big plastic femur bone from a local costume store) to increase office morale and departmental interaction. The office was suffering from divisions among the different departments. Our management team started the award with three goals in mind: bridge the gap between departments, allow employees to show appreciation for co-workers, and to give visibility to those employees who were contributing to increased productivity.
Michael describes the process for awarding the Spirit Bone: “Each week the employee who receives the Spirit Bone keeps it on his/her desk. At the end of the week, he/she must hand it off to a co-worker in a different department. The Bone is escorted by office supervisor to its new destination. Each employee is encouraged to “leave” their mark on the bone before they hand it off. After a few weeks, it looks pretty crazy as each employee gets pretty creative. We also implemented an employee-driven initiative, an Employee Focus Group that awards an Employee of the Month award. These ideas came to me after reading your book. Morale is slowly on the upswing and we plan on great results from these changes!“
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