Puppies, Sticks and Carrots

My wife recently got a new puppy. I guess technically we both got one, but if you came to our house you'd quickly realize it's hers. We're in that stage of teaching the little guy what behaviors are OK and what behaviors are not going to be tolerated. 

It's amazing how quickly he has learned behaviors that can be reinforced by rewards. I taught him to sit in just a few minutes. As part of his housebreaking training, we reward him with a treat when he's outside, and we reward him with a treat when we go back inside and he sits on command. Now, every time he crosses a threshold, he sits and looks up for his treat. All-in-all, teaching him positive behaviors through positive reinforcement has been pretty easy.

On the other hand, getting him NOT to do what we don't want him to do has been more challenging. We can't give a treat for not chewing a shoe, for example, and expect the reward to be understood. Correcting shoe chewing, jumping and other violations must be addressed through corrective action. And behavior modification by corrective action just doesn't "take" as quickly nor as solidly as those reinforced by rewards do. 

Humans are more like puppies than we care to admit. Give us a treat for something and we'll do it again! Tell us not to do something and we might or might not. Have you ever said, How many times have I told them not to... 

When managers learn that behaviors that can be reinforced through rewards should be reinforced through rewards, they discover that rewarded behavior is repeated and repeated and repeated. Carrots beat sticks every time.

The other thing that's frequently misunderstood about carrots is the belief that the reward must be tangible, like cash or a gift card or a lapel pin (or a doggie treat). But recognition and feedback can be motivating without any tangible reward attached at all. For example, if you can incorporate a graphical representation of the performance that's desired and a graphical representation of employees' actual performance that they can compare to, this simple feedback will be motivating even if there is no financial incentive attached to the goal. Achieving the goal is carrot-enough oftentimes.

Unfortunately, too many managers are much more comfortable with the stick than with the carrot. The stick is easy - an employee messes up and I reprimand them. Coming up with appropriate carrots that don't seem hokey or manipulative is harder. 

But carrots work...and work better! Organizations that make the investments to develop the proper carrots and managers who recognize how to use carrots will ultimately develop more productive teams. So try to increase your use of carrots by 50% and decrease your use of sticks by 50% and see if you don't get improved results.