The Carrot Principle

The premise behind The Carrot Principle is that recognition serves as an accelerator of employee performance and engagement. In the same way that scientists use accelerants as catlysts to speed up chemical reactions, Gostick and Elton say that in business, recognition can be used to make the things that you're already doing well work better and faster without disturbing the balance of a team or organization. The results of their study show that out of the employees who reported the highest morale at work, 94.4% said that their leader was effective at recognition. In contast, 56% of those surveyed who had low morale said their leader failed to recognize them, and only 2.4% of those with low morale felt they received recognition

The Basic Four

Many leaders would class themselves as competent at some or all of the basic four. However, to gain the best results, the authors state that leaders need to be good at all of them

Goal Setting

Being an effective goal setter allows the leader to align the goals of individuals, teams and departments those of the organizations. Challenging goals provide a framework for continued success, providing the goals remain attainable. Unattainable goals will simply demoralize.

According to Goswick amd Elton, connecting an employees goals to the organizations goals is the action of a great leader, and that when this interconnection occurs the results can be remarkable.

Communication

Communication in an organization is constant. Even if all that is being dicussed is the office romance or the heat in the meeting rooms, that is still communication. The key for the leader is to use communication to their advantage, to trust the employees to use the information they receive to their benefit. For example, a leader who shares their vision about who the organization is, what they want and how they will get it will benefit from directing the culture of the organization as they wish, rather than letting it drift.

I think any company ... has got to find a way to engage the the mind of every single employee ... If you're not thinking about making every person more valuable you don't have a chance. What's the alternative? Wasted minds? Uninvolved people? a labor force that's angry or bored? That doesn't make sense.
Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric

Trust

Leaders who are trusted by their team engender more loyalty and commitment. Louis Barnes, a professor at Harvard Business School, describes trust as 'The Theory of Reciprocity', in other words, employees respond in kind to the way they are treated. Therefore, leaders who respect, listen, keep their word and worry more about their team than their own success will have motivated and dedicated employees.

Accountability

Accountability is the responsibility each person takes for their own actions and decisions. At work it means being able to report quickly and honestly of the state or progress of any part of a role, and to be able to admit and rectify a mistake. Gostick and Elton feel that the key to accountability is finding an equilibrium, that leaders must be able to identify employee success as well as failures. Many organizations are now realizing that in order to innovate and adapt they need to allow employees the freedom to experiment and make mistakes without fear, and so celebrate mistakes as a necessary part of the path to success.

Accelerating the Basic Four

According to the authors, the shift from good, competent leadership to great leadership and thereby to full employee engagement occurs when recognition is applied to the Basic Four of goal setting, communication trust and accountability. This can be achieved in the following ways:

Recognition for Achievement of Goals

Giving recognition to individuals when they achieve the goals they have personally been tasked with helps maintain their enthusiasm for, and contribution towards, wider departmental and organizational goals. This could be as simple as a quick thank you in person to an employee for a job well done.

Communicating Recognition

Communicating on an individual level, say the authors, is the way for effective leaders to influence behavior and make sure that each employee understands what is important. Frequent, specific and timely communication is the way to underpin and reinforce an organization’s mission and goals. Instant recognition, and where appropriate, reward, for an employee who puts the organization’s values into practice will be remembered far more clearly by the employee than sitting in a department meeting listening to a leader talk about these values.

Building Trust Through Recognition

Publicly recognizing someone for a contribution or action helps a leader to build trust. A public thank you to a team member or members, for example, demonstrates a leader’s ability to give credit where it is due. Frequent and sincere compliments build a closer employee-leader relationship and a greater degree of trust, ultimately resulting in greater productivity and performance. In other words, employees will work harder for someone they like and respect, and who they know will acknowledge and reward their efforts.

Recognition for Accountability

Giving praise whenever an employee delivers something they are accountable for, especially if they have exceeded expectations, lets the employee know they are contributing to the organization’s success. Recognition itself is a very effective way to hold employees accountable, and must therefore apply equally to mistakes as well as successes. A tangible reward, such as an email or the sight of a small bonus payment on a payslip, can further enhance employee accountability, giving the employee a sense of personal pride and achievement, which they will carry forwards with them.

Conclusion

The Carrot Principle sets out some quick and easy steps that leaders can take to improve employee engagement and therefore organizational performance. In order to be successful the Carrot Principle approach needs to be integrated into the organization’s culture. Initially, frequent recognition for the Big Four of goal setting, communication trust and accountability may feel alien to the leader. Gostick and Elton assert, however, that as the organization’s leaders and its employees become increasingly engaged and motivated to achieve their common goals, greater satisfaction, productivity and performance will follow.