What’s a better tool for leaders to influence long term behavior and motivation– carrots or sticks?  The answer is neither.  We’ve all heard the stories of those old, harsh and mean teachers back in the 1950’s that used to slap the hands (or behinds) of misbehaved students with a wooden stick.  Today we still see some parents that believe a solid spanking is a good disciplinary tool for their children.  These disciplinarians have all used the stick model to influence behavior at some level.  Although these are obvious and literal examples of “stick” influencing models, sometimes we see this type of technique used more subtly.  Have you ever told an employee that if a particular key objective is not met, she will not make bonus?  Or have you ever reprimanded your child of a wrong doing by giving him a time out?  On the contrary, we’ve all made some sort of bonus at one point or another or rewarded our child with ice cream following a good report card.  Whether effective or not, these are all examples of “carrot and stick” type motivators.  Leaders have used these types of motivators for centuries to model behavior in subordinates.  There is no doubt that either a carrot or a stick works when influencing short term motivation.  Just ask a POW during a water boarding session.  Neither of these tools however is effective in shaping long term motivation.  What then models long term behavior?  What shapes motivation and inspiration in subordinates to obtain long term results for the team and the organization?

On trying to answer this question I will extract from the great management guru Keneth Blanchard and draw a conclusion from his note worthy book, “The One Minute Manager” (a highly recommended read for all managers, parents, coaches and any other type of leader).  On his best seller, Blanchard depicts the importance of 1) “one minute” goals, 2) “one minute” praise and 3) “one minute reprimands” to influence and motivate employees to obtain long term results.

The first step towards long term motivation is aligning employees’ responsibilities with the company’s mission, vision and objectives (MVO’s).  In other words it’s important that employees identify at an emotional and even ethical level with the company’s value proposition and contribution to society in general – this is what organizational behavior experts call “value congruency in the workplace”.   But although this is of utmost importance the sad reality is that most often than not, employees get lost in mission and vision statement as well as general company and departmental objectives no matter how specific or well constructed they are.  The reason why this occurs is because employees lack specific goals that align themselves with the company’s MVO’s and thus end up losing all sense of accountability for the company’s MVO’s.  It’s no coincidence then that Blanchard’s number one motivational tool is goal setting.  Consequently, setting those goals with the employee’s input and feedback becomes the manager’s most important responsibility.  In implementing goals a manager and employee must ask – what is the present level of performance and where do we want the level of performance to be?  Any type of goal should focus on the gap between these two.  Furthermore, Blanchard suggests that the goals must be specific, have a particular time frame or date and not exceed more than two or three in number.  It is through this process that accountability becomes real.  Accountability alone is perhaps one of the strongest motivators of all time.  From this point on, let the employees do their thing and get out of their way.  Let them strategize as to how to achieve those goals and check with them periodically.  In other worlds – empower them. 

Constantly praising good performance is another way of modeling long term motivation.  Blanchard states that catching employees doing something right as opposed to doing something wrong is a very strong long term motivator.  Imagine each praise on performance as a deposit in your employee’s motivational and self worth bank accounts.  Every time you catch your employee doing something right and commended him or her on it, your employees’ motivation and self esteem will grow.  But not any random deposit will do to make your employee rich in motivation.  In order to compound your employee’s motivational return and wealth, Blanchard suggests that the praise must be specific and recognized among other team members.  For example just telling an employee that he’s doing “a great job” is not enough.  But telling him that he did an amazing job with the range of motion of Suzie’s shoulder and functional return of her upper extremity in front of the entire department during a staff meeting is a much richer bank deposit on motivation.  Over time this pays off handsomely on motivation and long term performance, so never underestimate a good reason to praise your employees.

Finally Blanchard goes on to say that a quick reprimand is needed from time to time.   A reprimand should be done quickly, must be short and should immediately serve to redirect the employee towards the original goal at hand.  Never should the reprimand serve as a punishment for this will actually take out from our employee’s emotional and self worth bank accounts.  If too many negative deposits are being made, motivation will be sucked out from our employees.  Moreover, a reprimand could also be made into an actual positive motivational deposit if we as managers reaffirm the employee how much his or her work is valued in the team.

Unless you’re looking for short term organizational results, external motivators (carrots and sticks) are not a good way to influence long term motivation and results.   In reality, it’s the intrinsic rewards that drive long term motivation in employees - values, passion for the job, mission and purpose, intellectual challenges, reward and recognition and a sense of importance by being accountable for results.  These intrinsic motivators are fueled by specific goals that are in line with the company’s mission, values and objectives.  In short, if we want to create temporarily motivated employees, focus on carrots and sticks (salary, punishments, etc).  But if you want to feed the goose that lay the golden eggs for your department and organization, focus on long term motivation through intrinsic motivators and use Blanchard’s principles of goals, praise and reprimand to guarantee success. 

Luis A. Montes, DPT, MBA