Another one I picked up at the public library. It was in the New Books area, and the title sounded catchy, so I picked it up. Definitely a book more managers should be reading and acting upon.

Here is the note I made about it on my personal blog:

[http://itinerantlibrarian.blogspot.com/2007/05/booknote-carrot-principle.html] ( )

Reveals how managers can increase their effectiveness through strategic communication, team-building, and goal-setting practices as exemplified by top executives from some of the world's most successful companies. ( )

Great premise, proof and application.

1. Recognition is the 'relationship bridge' between management and talent that seeks to achieve (pg 68)
2. 4-Quads of Engagement/Satisfaction (drives turnover): Hi/Lo 14%; Hi/Hi 40%; Lo/Hi 20%, Lo/Lo 26%.
3. Building Blocks of Recognition: Day-to-day, Above-and-beyond, careeer and celebration recognition. (pg 100)
4. Predictors of Engagement:
a. Recognition > Opp & Wellbeing > Engagement
b. Communication > Trust > Engagement
c. Alignment > Org Symbol > Engagement (pg 148).
5. Power of Recognition is global; must improve 2-way comm; use corp symbol in recognition (pg 160)
6. 125 recognition ideas (pg 172)

( )

The problem with The Carrot Principle is its assumptions. The authors look at the current vocational landscape, filled with dissatisfaction, lack of motivation, and pining for other jobs and conclude that these are problems management can solve. Sure, management can make them better by with goal setting and better communication—and then the glorious carrot. But the authors are mistaken to pin our workforce problems on a lack of goals, talk, and carrots. What if your company’s goals have no intrinsic value? What if, when you communicate more clearly, it just means that your employees see that the customer is just a means to line the stockholders’ pockets? To be fair, Gostick and Elton correctly assert that creative affirmation is the best way to honor employees—both from a personal perspective and a business one—but it’s not the long-term solution they claim. Employees should be rewarded with things other than money. Thoughtful and personal recognition is sorely lacking in today's corporate world. The authors must be commended for hammering that point home. I hope managers pick up on it.

Unless the employees feel valued in an enterprise which is actually worthy for them to be a part of, estrangement will inevitably return. Over time, The Carrot Principle’s practice of recognition will just delay the inevitable, as managers help combat employee alienation through
Amusing Employees to Death. ( )