Wipe that stupid smirk off your face!
Hate the post today? It isn’t Laurie’s fault this time! Guest blogger Lance Haun is here to entertain you.
For some reason, carrots just rub me the wrong way. If you’re a carrot lover, I just can’t understand the appeal of these little orange spears. If you want to put them in my stew, in my garden salad and in my mixed vegetables, fine. Just don’t expect me to eat them without a fight. You know what is a good substitution for carrots? Bacon. If it makes you feel better, I’ll make that bacon carrot shaped too.
The point is not everybody loves carrots. And the fact that carrot and stick employee motivation tactics still exist sucks more than carrots themselves. Just the thought of carrot based motivation conjures up images of employees as mindless automatons with simple needs and simple rewards.
* * *
When I worked retail, we had a new program where we would get $5 gift cards for extra special treatment of customers. First of all, the gift cards were for the store I was working at and I didn’t want to buy anything there. Second of all, everybody just made sure to do extra special things when the manager was around. When the manager wasn’t around, we just slacked off and pulled pranks on one another. Finally when the program ended, we went back to what we normally did (slacking off and pulling pranks on one another). Pretty effective as long as the program was in place and the manager was around.
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That’s not to say incentives aren’t good for some things. I’m not for eliminating commissions or bonuses for example (which, when structured properly, can actually be good for all parties). But I call ‘em how I see ‘em: incentive programs are often used as a replacement for solid leadership. You want to motivate your employees?
- Inspire them to be awesome
- Give them freedom and responsibility
- Provide tools when needed
- Tell them when they do a great job
- Repeat
I’ll call this the Bacon Method because you could do it all day and it still would taste as good as the first bite. Bacon beats out carrots once again.
What do you think?
Lance Haun is VP of Outreach for MeritBuilder (which for full disclosure’s sake, can help organizations engage their employees the right way) and the author of YourHRGuy.com. And yes, he really loves bacon.
Image source: Cyn74
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Do not underestimate the power of generous heaps of #4!!!
Now back to this listing of foods with carrots in them. To steal a line from my son, “What about cake!”
“But I call ‘em how I see ‘em: incentive programs are often used as a replacement for solid leadership.”
A-freakin-men to that.
See, I like carrots. But I’m a vegetarian…no no bacon for me. I like recognition when I do a good job…unless it’s in public, in which case I break out in hives. I like public recognition for people who enjoy that sort of thing. Not for me. Never ever.
That’s one important thing about recognition…you have to know the person well enough to know what’s going to motivate them and what’s going to make them break out in hives. That’s part of the job of being a manager.
You Lie!!!
Chris, I think the words you’re looking for are:
You lie
Like a fly
With a booger in his eye.
At least, that’s the way I learned it in 2nd grade.
@Kerry — your comment about vegetarians is the exact crux of the issue! If I’m carnivorous bacon-lovin’ manager who recognizes and motivates in my own image, and I got me some tofu-eatin’ veggie-adorin’ vegans on my team, I’m a train wreck waiting to happen. Scary thing is, it all comes down to TTYP (Talk. To. Your. People.) Love it, thanks for the analogy!
How about bacon wrapped carrots? Everything’s better with bacon with right?
We have managers here that try the carrot on a stick method. It works just as you described, temporarily as long as it’s in place. Running the program continuously leads employees to expect it. We have a bonus structure that they’ve grown to expect and when they don’t get it, they complain like three year olds. When I get complaints from managers I ask them “have you talked to your staff about what they want, what motivates them?” I get dumbfounded looks. It’s like I’m talking to myself sometimes.
On a side note, I have a wicked bad graving for a bacon cheeseburger all the sudden; thanks Lance.
Ugh, spell check is not a substitute for grammar check. Craving, not graving. good grief, is going to be one of those days…
They had chocolate covered bacon at the Wisconsin State Fair this year. How motivating is THAT?!!
Seriously, you have spoken great and simple truths. Managers shouldn’t make it harder than it is. Be a human being and treat your employees like human beings. It’s amazing how hard it is for so many to understand that.
Most incentive programs don’t work because the employer or department is SO cheap. What? 150 bucks if I land an account that will make you 100′s of thousands of dollars??? Oh– I’m on it, sir!!! Nah!!!!
For the record— Pork is the greatest gift ever bestowed on us lowly humans from a benevolent God!! That’s where the Jewish go WAY off track—-
Carrot cake– my favorite! Everything else– nope.
But using the stick-and-a-carrot analogy, if you’ve ever seen a horse eat a carrot– it’s like they’ve died and gone to heaven.
It”s not really the carrot that I hate as much as the stick. It’s like old oreo theory of putting a negative between two positives. Whether it is carrots or bacon, find out what energizes somebody and run with it.
By the way, I do love pork.
Great post, Lance!! I totally agree with you too. I have learned that when employees have been given money as a bonus or motivator, they never remember what they did with it. Probably pay bills with it. All of 1 through 5 are great but to give lots of #1 and heaps of #4 (as HR Mark said) means so much to the employees. Employees remember when their boss gave them a pat on the back or a card (or pin or whatever) saying thank you or you’re a great employee or you did a great job, etc. That is all it takes with very little money, if any at all, needed. Plus, managers would be amazed the motivation it gives to their employees just by taking the time to praise them!!
first, y’all need this shirt: http://bit.ly/vdSvw.
second, everything really is better with bacon.
third, how does bacon fit into a wellness incentives conversation–pick up that bacon, it’ll drive down our health care costs?!
f
Why have i never heard of the bacon of the month club and why hasn’t anyone given it to me for my birthday present!!!?? @fran
I don’t necessarily agree that only praise works. My boss took me to lunch last Monday to tell me what an awesome job I’m doing but my paycheck is not any heavier this week…. SHOW ME THE MONEY. And the praise is nice.
@HR Mark – Shhhh, I eat carrot cake.
@Kerry – Seriously. It is one of many things that businesses can use.
@Chris – No U!
@April – Hey, no problem. Bacon cheeseburgers are great.
@Scott – You need a bacon maple bar my friend!
@Matty – Yep. Lack of sharing a win in all sorts of ways.
@Bruce – Happy to hear you’re pro pork.
@Sara – I like money and it is a part of it but like everything else, it isn’t a replacement for leadership.
@Fran – I know what Laurie thinks of wellness programs so I am going to keep my mouth closed on that one.
@Teresa – Yep praise is nice, so is money, so is leadership. Let’s put it all together the right way.
Everything is better IN bacon, not with. mmmm bacon.
Lance, business objectives of the article aside, I love bacon and hate carrots. I’ve grown to like other veggies but carrots are not one them. Carrots are so nasty that bacon-wrapped carrots would even be a stretch (though certainly tastier until you get to the crunchy center).
Great posting! Recognition should be driven by inspiration not competition. The carrot on a stick means no light at the end of the tunnel….not an inspiring way to motivate!
Funny article, it reminds us that keeping it simple works best!!
Lead by example, be sincere, mentor and recognize achievement!!!
Great post. I prefer bangers (that’s sausage to the non-Irish). Seriously, “incentive programs are often used as a replacement for solid leadership” — brilliant!
You want to bribe your employees to do good work? Offer an incentive program structure.
But if you want them to work hard on your top priorities because they WANT to, then recognize them for the good work they do to show them how much you appreciate them and how valuable they are to the organization.
I couldn’t agree with you more on why incentives fail: http://globoforce.blogspot.com/2009/04/why-incentives-fail.html
so, i’m now intrigued to hear laurie’s POV on wellness programs! i can only imagine…
Back in corporate land I had a buddy who was confronted by a Senior VP on an elevator ride and asked if he had any out-of-the-box business process ideas that day (the incentive program fad at the time). My buddy was so nervous he nearly broke wind and all week he would dwell on the things he should have said in those next 20 seconds, but didn’t think of at the moment.
The point is this guy is Mr. Idea Man but no one in the elevator (including hyper VP man) would ever know because this VP came at him like Freddie Kruger. Furthermore the whole business processes process was basically reserved for the type-A hoorah kind of people that could leave their real jobs and not be missed.
Give ‘em bacon but don’t make them choke on it; incentives and bacon need to be dished out in a suitable setting and put in everyone’s reach.
Great article…