Adrian Gostick

If you know the Dutch, you may have wondered, “What’s up with all the orange?” Everywhere you go in the country people are wearing orange, if you watch the Netherlands national soccer team play you know the stands are full of orange. And yet the flag is red, white and blue.

You see, orange is the color of the Dutch Royal Family, and wearing it displays pride in being Dutch. Of course, orange is also the color of Carrots. And this summer the two came together.
The excellent training company FranklinCovey International has the rights to Carrot Principle training outside the U.S. and Canada, and we are thrilled that FC partner Benelux in the Netherlands is the latest to launch the program.
A year ago, Ed Peters of Benelux saw us present data from The Carrot Principle. As it happened, the day we presented was the national celebration of Queen Beatrix, so Ed and others from his team were wearing orange, as tradition dictates in the Netherlands. Said Ed, “We were instantly impressed by the Carrot Principle and we were eager to go orange and launch Carrots in our market.”
So Ed created a launch event to coincide with the Dutch publication of The Carrot Principle, titled Het Wortel Principe. He added, “We invited about 90 clients to participate in an overview of the Carrot Principle and why it was is so compelling to adopt this employee appreciation program to drive results. Our overview gave highlights of the research behind the Carrot Principle and the results it generates. As a wrap-up, we also had one of our major clients, who uses the 7 Habits and the Carrot Principle to achieve 100 percent employee satisfaction in his organization, share his insights. This was a winning combination!”
What we’ve found in our global research is being proven out in the Netherlands and other countries worldwide. Recognition drives stronger employee engagement and productivity whether your team is comprised of North Americans, South Americans, Asians, Europeans, Australians, or Antarcticans (penguins?).

Something primeval happens to the human body when we are faced with the uncertainty of a tough economy … what will happen to my company, my job, my work friends, my future? It’s a little like walking into a dark alley and suddenly facing a man with a gun. Forget fight or flight, most of us simply become paralyzed by fear.

As managers, we must understand that extended periods of fear and insecurity can lead to negative behaviors in our employees: 1) a gradual slowing of action until employees are unproductive, or 2) an excess of “busy” actions that are not helpful to the organization. Those frenzied behaviors can include an inordinate amount of time spent complaining to each other, a penchant for choosing to perform simple tasks that are familiar while avoiding harder but necessary jobs, Twittering or checking Facebook obsessively, eating more, and becoming more anxious and nervous in the office and at home.
Fear is not our enemy. It certainly can give us energy to drive harder toward a better future. But strong leadership is required to help direct energy toward positive behaviors that further company goals. Employees need to be given clear directions regularly, they need to feel their leaders are communicating all the news that affects them as soon as they know it, and they need to feel trust in management and fellow workers.
Here are some ways to help the situation.
First, walk around. Spend a few minutes every day talking to your employees in their work spaces. A few simple questions will get the conversations rolling: Do you have any questions about the company’s direction right now? Is there anything you are working on that I can help with? What have you been most proud to accomplish at work over the past few weeks?
Second, ramp up recognition. In these turbulent times, people need to be shown a better way. You can talk until you are blue in the face about innovation, customer service, teamwork, ownership, or other values. But if you want to really get employees’ attention, let them see their peers getting awards for living these values.

Do you want to know what your boss thinks of you? Chester and I sent out our monthly newsletter yesterday and shared insights into what your boss is thinking when you do certain things, like bring her a cup of coffee in the morning or don’t speak up in a meeting. We’ve added some questions since Chester discussed this topic with ABC News in a recent interview. There are also some great ideas for summertime Carrots and ways to keep a team motivated through the hot vacation season. To view the August issue, click here.

We received some frightening responses to our recent request for your recognition horror stories. Here’s a humorous one that many of you have probably seen played out at some point in your career:

I work for an insurance company in the Boston area.  I recently attended a department meeting with about 75 or so fellow employees. A presentation regarding upcoming proposals, changes, and an outlook on how the company was doing was followed by an awards presentation for certain employees who had worked here for 30, 25, and 10 years. They each received some sort of arrangement of flowers in a decorative vase and were called up individually to receive their award. However, the presentation consisted of calling out each employee’s name, a handshake from management, and the word “Congratulations.“  No mention of who these people were, what they did at the company, or any tribute to their dedication and devotion to the company. I half expected management to call out—“Here’s yer flowers…see you in another 30 years.“

A few weeks later, a memo was sent around saying that our company was entered in a newspapers’ “Top 100 Places to Work” in the state, and that we would all be asked to anonymously answer surveys.  I can only imagine how the award recipients, and others who witnessed the event, will respond to the survey!  It seems we’d be more likely to win “Top 100 Places to Get Away from Before You Spend The Rest of Your Lives There Underappreciated!“

-Brent in Boston

Good luck, Brent. I suggest you send a copy of The Carrot Principle to your upper management before the next awards presentation. You never know…