Every
boss, every manager and every organization pays lip service to leading by
empowerment and positive reinforcement. "They swear they believe in the carrot
not the stick," one ex-manager told me of his former employer. "But a lot of
people seem to be getting brutalized by that carrot." ("Brutalized" is actually
my word. The phrase he used was considerably more graphic—and
more painful to imagine.)
He showed me
several post cards from his former co-workers. One read, "The flogging will
continue until morale improves." Another quoted Steven Wright, "For every action
there is an equal and opposite criticism."
I was reminded of a Fortune 500 vice president who brought me to a
corporate management conference a few years back to deliver a presentation on
the benefits of empowerment. It was very well received; the vice president
himself was so inspired that he immediately leaped up and told all his minions
that they'd better be empowered from that moment on, "Or believe me heads are
going to roll." He added, in all seriousness, "Just make sure you clear
everything with me first."
"He just
empowered them to do nothing but claim to be empowered," one of the other
speakers whispered to me.
"Not quite," I
said. "He ordered them to claim to be empowered."
If you're
managing people, try treating those you manage as partners not peons. As Booker
T. Washington observed, "Few things help an individual more than to place
responsibility on him, and to let him know you trust him."
"Management is
simple," one award-winning manager claims. "I create incentives, small rewards
and
recognitions. I believe in my people, and I show them how much I believe in
them. I get them to want to live up to my high opinion, and then I give them the
freedom to do just that."
We all need to
be appreciated. There's a joke about a guy who's stranded on a tiny desert
island. One day he's walking on the beach and he stumbles across a woman, washed
up just above the surf line. She's in bad shape and as he reaches her, she stops
breathing. Quickly he administers mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. After a few
frightening seconds, she starts breathing again and opens her eyes.
"You saved my life," she insists gratefully.
She brushes the
hair back from her face. That’s when he realizes that he's stranded on a desert
island with the biggest box office star and the most gorgeous and most famous
beauty of the day. To avoid litigation, we'll call her Tasmalia Thistlemore.
Time passes.
The island is lush and warm, with plenty of fruit. They build a comfortable hut.
It's like Eden. Tasmalia falls deeply in love with him, and making love
becomes their major form of entertainment. Then one day, she notices he looks
depressed. She asks him what could possibly be wrong in such an idyllic
existence.
"Is there anything I can do?" she asks.
"Well,
actually," he replies, "there is something."
"Anything,
darling."
"Would you mind
putting on my shirt?"
That puzzles
her, but she says, "Of course not," and puts on the shirt.
"Now could you
put on my pants?"
"Sure, if you
think it will make you feel better."
"Good. Now put
on my coat and draw a mustache on your face." She goes along with that too. Then
he says, "Now, would you please start walking down the beach and head around the
island?"
She starts out,
and he sets off in the opposite direction. Fifteen minutes later they meet on
the far side of the island.
He rushes up to
her, grabs her by the shoulders and says, "Man, you will never believe who I'm
living with!"
We all need
appreciation and recognition. Appreciate your people. Help them discover both their worth and their potential.
When Emery Air
Freight started encouraging supervisors to use positive feedback—telling
workers when they were doing a good job rather than stressing the negative—customer
service improved and sales increased. After three years, the company estimated
the new system had made them $3 million.
That's a lot of carrots.
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© Copyright 2008 Barry Maher, Barry Maher
& Associates, Las Vegas, Nevada
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