The 24-Carrot manager

-This book is about how a leader can unleash human potential through the use of reward and recognition.

-A simple profound lesson: Be kind to everyone, everyone is having a hard day (must always assume everyone’s having a hard day)

-Carrots means effective rewards and recognition

-We traditionally spend most of our time worrying about our products or our customers or our bosses’ whims, and very little time worrying about what’s really important: the people who keep our business going-our faithful employees.

-Top performers aren’t the only ones who care about recognition. Carrot can improve profitability and productivity within your entire work team by leaps and bounds.

-Leaders must not only understand the necessity to encourage, inspire and reward that top 20 percent, [they must] be sure that the high-performance70% is always energized to improve and move upward.

-Managers are often convinced that employees would put good wages and job security t the top list. They were wrong. Number 1 on the employees lists was feeling appreciated. Number 2 was feeling “in” on things. In fact, when employees felt recognized and involved, they were much less likely to worry about money and job security.

SEVEN SHORT WAYS TO BULID COMMITMENT

1. No Pain, no Gain

-Giving your 1st carrot to an employee might make you feel a bit out of place. And actually, that’s good. It means you’re gaining around. The truth is, most managers are seriously out of practice in presenting employee rewards and recognition. And that’s too bad, because managers are the only ones who can.

-To effectively manage people, you must give a piece of yourself. You must truly listen, encourage, and be an important part of your employee’s work experience.

Challenge: spend a few minutes thinking about your team. Are there members you never publicly recognize? Why not?

2. Carrots Improve your eyesight

-Noticing and recognizing the right behaviors is the key to strengthening employee relationships in any economy. As your workforce shrinks and you need to do more with less, keeping quality employees becomes even more critical. As a manager, it’s you job to recognize and bond your most valued people to your company. And you must also help direct and motivate your core performers.

Challenge: Carefully think about what will you recognize in your team. At your next staff meeting, recognize one person for living one of these behaviors. Keep this tradition going by recognizing one person in every meeting. Encourage your workers to do the same. Make sure to tie recognition to your company’s goals and values.

3. Pick your Carrots wisely

-Remember the saying “Money can’t buy everything”? Well, it’s true. Don’t wait until you can offer an employee a raise or promotion. Real thanks is its own reward. In numerous surveys of work satisfaction, top on employee lists is “feeling appreciated”. In fact, when employees feel recognize and involved, they are much less likely to keep asking about money. There are some relatively simple things you can do that will earn big returns. For example, remember your employee’s birthdays and work anniversaries; find out what inexpensive rewards they value (eg. Few hours off to spend with their kids). Walk around your department every day, talk to your people and than them-sincerely and often.

Challenge: When you hire your next employee, say: “I know you are going to do great things, and I want to know how to reward you.” Then spend 10 minutes learning about his or her interests. Maybe he likes fishing (half a day might be a great reward), or reading (a book). Make a note of these interests and then use those interests to determine what day to day rewards you can offer. Not only this will give you great ideas for recognition, it will show that you have interest in them as a person.

4. It’s all in the presentation
-Expressing appreciation in general, unspecific terms, fails to communicate what the person did right and often appears insincere. Instead, when giving praise, describe the great behavior, why it was helpful and say thanks. It’s that easy.

-Praise and recognition must be specific to have an impact. General praise like “You do great work” can actually have the opposite effect, leaving your employees wondering, “Does he have any idea what I really do around here?” In private and public recognition moments, specific praise links individual accomplishments to company goals.

For example, “Joe, I noticed the way you handled that customer complaint. Great work. As you know, we value quick resolutions of problems as one of our core strategies. Types of recognition: Verbal praise (Thank them for specific actions that help achieve your department goals), Informal rewards (Free lunch, spa trips, movie-should be typically presented at least once a month to the people who created the most value) and
Formal rewards (company milestone awards to performance and service awards – 40 percent of their workforce receive a formal award for outstanding performance at least once a year).

Challenge: Come up with a fun tradition that you can start for your employees. Some managers recognize employee accomplishments with sets of walking the talk. Whatever the tradition, keep it going and keep it fun.

5. Keep your eye on the harvest

-Focus recognition on the kinds of behaviors that make your team and company better. When you are strategic, your employees will understand that recognition is not popularity contest but an important tool to move people toward specific goals, make employees more efficient and make work groups more productive.

-You must not only develop values and goals, but you have to live them. You also must recognize those on your team who embody those values. In short, you have to put your carrots where your mouth is. Stop talking about how important the values are, and start recognizing progress towards them.

Challenge: Check with your HR department to find out when you next employee will receive his service award. About a week before, spend a few minutes preparing remarks and asking coworkers to speak. Make this employee’s day special, and your investment in time and energy will come back to you tenfold.

6. Make formal milestones worth remembering

-Make the most of your company’s formal corporate wards-service, safety and others-with a powerful roup presentation. Presenting a formal award doent have to be a burden, it can be an opportunity to bond an employee to you and your team and to reinforce your goals and vision. All it takes is a little preparation, sincerity an specificity.

7. Keep on going

-Recognition means most to an employee when it’s sincere an spontaneous. Some form of recognition should occur at least every seven days. So if you wait until a year-end party or an annual review, you are waiting too long to recognize and are probably losing people along the way.

Challenge: Close the book- and call in your first employee!

*Neglect can be a poisoned apple. Recognition is the elixir that will spark better attitudes and performance. So take a look in the mirror and ask yourself how you can recognize your employees for their efforts, than them often, and reward their achievements. You can awaken them from their anger and apathy and they will fall in love with their jobs again. And chances are, you’ll work together happily ever after.