By: Adrian Gostick, Chester Elton

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Show Adrian Gostick a leader who sets clear goals, communicates openly, respects people, treats them fairly, holds people accountable, and creates trusting relationships, and we’ll show you a leader who’s almost got it right. Show Gostick an organisation where people are coming to work on time, doing their jobs, and feel satisfied, and we’ll show you an organisation that is close to achieving its full potential. But why is it “almost”? Why is it “close”? Why is Gostick not fully satisfied? He says we need an accelerator. Something to bridge the gap between where your team is now and where it can be.

And in the workplace, Gostick says, “there is no accelerator with more impact than purpose-based recognition”. A leader expressing appreciation to a person in a meaningful and memorable way is the missing accelerator that can do so much and yet is used so sparingly. Simply put, when employees know that their strengths and potential will be praised and recognised, they are significantly more likely to produce value.

We are not talking money here, it’s not as powerful a reward as many people think.

In fact one-third of the people you give a cash award to will use that money to pay bills. Another one in five won’t have any clue in a few months where they spent the money or even how much they received.

But what about something useful and tangible that was given to you as a reward? Chances are that even years later, you still own it and can picture the award in your mind.

Giving recognition has a knock-on effect beyond the recipient. It gives coworkers a vision of the possible and the desire to garner the rewards. But recognition isn’t the only answer. Before there can be recognition, the basics need to be in place: aptitude in Goal Setting, Communication, Trust and Accountability.

When a manager is somewhat competent with the basics and then adds the accelerator to each, management effectiveness soars in each. This is the Carrot Principle. It is a simple concept, but one that works every time.

Goal Setting Accelerated

Recognition accelerates goal setting by rewarding activities that move employees closer to the goal. Doing it this way, allows leaders to correct the group’s course in a positive way rather than pointing out deficiencies in performance.

Recognition further accelerates progress toward a goal by bringing new energy to its pursuit. While communicating a clear goal and purpose may be enough for employees to begin a task with enthusiasm, people must feel that they are making progress, or their enthusiasm will begin to wane.

Communication Accelerated

Effective managers realise that to influence behaviour, to explain what really matters most, they must speak to each individual in their charge frequently, specifically, and in a timely manner. The most effective way to do that is through employee recognition.

Recognition works because it answers a universal human need: we all want to matter to those with whom we work. Communication combined with recognition of strategically important behaviours takes your vision and values off the wall and puts them into the hearts and minds of your people, which is exactly the place you want your vision and values to be.

Trust Accelerated

The moment you publicly recognise someone for a contribution, the trust meter shoots off the scale. In that moment - the employee being recognised and everyone present realises they can trust you to share the credit.

The frequent act of recognition bonds individual team members to you and each other. The results of this acceleration are closer employee-manager relationships, greater respect, and a sense of fairness in your team.

Accountability Accelerated

As a manager, you don’t wait until the end of a project to receive an update. Recognition works the same way. By recognising accomplishments and the milestones along the way to larger goals, you let employees know in a positive way that they’re being held accountable for the overall success of the project.

To hold your people accountable, give recognition whenever an employee delivers, especially when he or she does so in an above-and-beyond manner.

Creating a Carrot Culture

Before you can begin to create a Carrot Culture, you must take stock of how engaged your employees are.

It’s not hard to spot engaged employees. They give their all to achieve company goals. They are your above-and-beyond performers, your go-to people. We certainly want more like them. But there’s a flip side: they are also the most sought-after people you have. Engaged employees are most likely to be the first out the door if they are unhappy.

Gostick gives us some yardsticks to assess our employee engagement.

• Employees consistently put in extra effort beyond what is expected.
• Employees are highly motivated to contribute to the success of the organisation. Employees have a strong sense of personal accomplishment from their work.
• Employees understand how their roles help the organisation meet its goals.
• Employees always have a positive attitude when performing their duties at work.
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The Building Blocks of a Carrot Culture

In Gostick’s experience, hollow values statements, not employees, are the largest obstacle in creating a Carrot Culture. Corporate culture has to run deeper than posters on the walls. In a Carrot Culture, managers understand this.

Great organisations and effective managers create a Carrot Culture one person at a time by using a variety of inclusive and meaningful recognition experiences. Gostick gives us four of the most common:

• Day-to-day recognition: These are the pats on the back, the handwritten notes, the team lunches, and on-the-spot award certificates.
• Above-and-beyond recognition: When your people go above and beyond, they deserve a more formal response from the organisation.
• Career recognition: Most organisations provide a formal program to recognise people on the anniversary of their hiring date.
• Celebration events: Events to celebrate include the successful completion of a key project, achievement of record results, company anniversaries, or new product launches.

To make sure the recognition hits the widest audience, when presenting each of the above awards, Gostick suggests we tell a specific, informed story about the accomplishment. His four-point template is straightforward.

• Talk about the situation – the problem or opportunity.
• State what was done in specific terms.
• Quantify and qualify the results of the action
• Link it to company values showing where it contributed to the company.
  
  

Choosing The Reward

Perhaps the most difficult portion of the recognition process is choosing a form of recognition that taps an employee’s motivation triggers. Here are a few suggestions across the five areas of the Carrot Principle:

Goal Setting

On a new employee’s first day, set expectations high by planning a small celebration. Then send out an e-mail to employees about the new person and why she was chosen to join the team. Invite coworkers to stop by. Even better, present the new person with a card signed by everyone on the team, welcoming her aboard.

Effective managers make a point to find each employee’s strength, tap it, and then recognise it. Set a goal today to identify what each employee in your department does best.

Reprint an employee’s business cards featuring an exclusive achievement-level logo when he has achieved a certain goal. Make him part of an exclusive club.

Communication

Make a commitment to call people by name and say good morning to them every day. It shows you see them as individuals, not just faces in a crowd.

You may be a great manager, but you can’t be everywhere and see everything at once, so ask for help. Give your people a stack of thank-you cards, and ask them to recognise coworkers when they see them furthering company values.

Personally deliver your employee’s next paycheck to her. Before you hand it over, spend a few moments defining exactly what she contributes to the company. It’s never the money that makes a person feel like a million bucks. It’s the praise.

Recognition

Give an award that keeps on giving all year long: a subscription to the person’s favourite magazine. If the magazine provides a message line on the address label, mention the employee’s achievement there, along with your thanks.

When a top performer is going on a particularly long business trip, upgrade her ticket to business class.

While you are away on business, arrange recognition for the employees who stay behind. Prepay for lunch to be brought in by a local restaurant, or have the cafeteria deliver coffee and fresh pastries one day.

Trust

When’s the last time you asked one of your people for his opinion? If it has been a while, make today the day you solicit input on a current project.

Learn to be an active listener. Practice eye contact. Take notes. Ask follow-up questions. The more you demonstrate that you can be trusted with concerns and ideas, the more your people will open up to you.

Think of the one person in the workforce you trust above anyone else. Set up a time to talk to that person about the relationship between trust and recognition. Ask what kind of recognition has worked for her and what she has learned about rewards over the years.

Accountability

The next time a customer, vendor, or teammate compliments a person in your department, make a note of it. Ask for details and record them in a file to be shared again during the person’s annual review.

The next time you meet with a client, take along the employee who has played a significant role in maintaining the account.

When you promote someone, make it public. Gather the group together to celebrate the achievement. Take the time to explain what behaviours got the employee there, and express gratitude.

Ask a stellar employee or team to step into a meeting of the board of directors to receive an award and a round of applause.

While this only takes a few minutes of time, it is the ultimate in recognition. And it shows your board members something important about the company and what the employees are accomplishing.

Conclusion

A leader expressing appreciation to a person in a meaningful and memorable way is the missing accelerator that can do so much and yet is used so sparingly. Simply put, when employees know that their strengths and potential will be praised and recognised, they are significantly more likely to produce value.