Remember the old saying “pretty is as pretty does,” meaning the action dictates the label?

Well, “stupid is as stupid does,” which is especially accurate when applied to management.

It’s hard to know which is most offensive when it comes to management—stupidity or ego, but when they join together the result is…wow; I’m not sure what adjective to use.

You decide.

I received a call from a distraught president. He said the company had been hit with a rash of resignations from some of their best development and marketing people and he had no idea why, since productivity had been running at an all-time high. Would I do some fast debriefing in an effort to turn things around?

It only took a few calls to identify the problem—actually the persons—responsible.

It turned out that the director of engineering and her counterpart in marketing had come up with a unique motivational technique.

They identified comparable projects both inter and intra-department and allowed the teams responsible to make steak and beans dinner bets with each other.

(For those unfamiliar the losing team buys steak dinners for the winning team, while they eat beans and are subject to good natured heckling by the winners.)

The contests had boosted productivity in both departments with most projects finishing early, even under budget, and morale was at an all time high.

The problem came from the fact that the engineering vp and the marketing vp were political enemies and didn’t want their two groups on good terms. Furthermore, the engineering vp felt work was serious business and games undermined his mission.

When they found out what was going on both were furious and agreed to fire the instigators.

That didn’t go over well with the staff, which had no hesitation of protesting with their feet, hence the flurry of resignations.

I reported back to the prez and, smart guy that he is, he didn’t hesitate.

After verifying what I told him he fired the two vice presidents and promoted the two directors.

Because his solution was not only swift, but highly visible, the resignations were withdrawn, the contest reinstated and the approach encouraged across the entire company.

Stupidity and ego; what adjective would you use?

Flickr image credit: opensourceway

Daniel Pink offers up some interesting thoughts on why carrots don’t bestow the benefits of employee engagement.

The idea that carrots aren’t the best management approach isn’t new, but he points out something that is often overlooked.

We forget that mastery is something human beings seek because we’re human beings. We like to get better at stuff, because it’s inherently satisfying. That’s why people do recreational sports, why people play musical instruments on the weekend, why people do crafts and things.

However, I do believe that rewards have their purpose, not as the motivation to do something, but as the acknowledgement that it was done well.

If that were not true then all of the various competitions associated with what people do on their own time for pleasure wouldn’t exist.

We humans have a strong tendency to compare what we do with similar things done by others.

We treasure not only the prizes, trophies and ribbons of our more formalized efforts, but also the everyday comments when others recognize how well we do it.

From the outside you may not see much difference between carrots and acknowledgement, but when you are on the receiving end the difference is glaring—and the difference is in the presentation.

Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.”

Managers who cling to carrots instead of acknowledgements are crazy.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zedbee/103147140/

I’m backed up on my reading and reviews, so I thought I’d cover two today, one with my own brief review and the other linked to a review by Jim Stroup.

First off is a new offering from Stanford’s Bob Sutton whose first book, The No Asshole Rule, loudly and publicly said what we all know—the workplace is no place for assholes (AKA jerks). Sutton’s new book, Good Boss, Bad Boss loudly proclaims another truth—boss quality matters or, as Sutton says, “people do not quit organizations, they quit bad bosses.” Jim already said everything in my mind, so read his excellent review and then read the book, you won’t be disappointed.

Second is The Orange Revolution by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton. I reviewed their previous books, The Carrot Principle and The Levity Effect and The Daily Carrot Principle (which makes a great gift).

The Orange Revolution is about the power of teams, but instead of typically anecdotal evidence, it’s based on a 350,000-person study done by the Best Places to Work folks and other global studies, as well as their own experience over 20 years.

They found six traits that all successful teams share, sharing a dream or a vision, believing in your ability to realize that dream, willingness to take prudent risks, appropriate metrics, perseverance, and a narrative or story-line that captures people’s imaginations and drives extraordinary efforts.

You may have heard this before, but solid research and good presentation makes a big difference. The book isn’t geared just to managers and positional leaders, if you work with a group, even a dysfunctional one, reading the book will benefit you.

I think both these books belong in your personal library and they would make great presents to friends—or anonymously to bosses who need them.

Image credit: Simon & Schuster and Work Matters

Levity (not joke telling) increases happiness and happy employees are more productive, innovative and less likely to leave.

Today we’ll take a look at some fascinating “happy” research.

The NY Times runs an opinion column called Happy Days that posts thoughts, research and comments from professionals and regular folks. A recent post by Paul Bloom, a Yale professor of psychology caught my eye. In it he considers whether it is necessary to choose between being a “happy pig or sad Socrates,” in other words, is it necessary to choose between indulging yourself and being a good person. Be sure to check out the comments; they add some excellent thoughts.

Second is a long article, but well worth the time to read it, especially if you are interested in the research being done on social networks.

Social scientists Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler are analyzing data from a study that has followed more than 15,000 Framingham residents and their descendants since it was 1948.

Their finding is that “good behaviors — like quitting smoking or staying slender or being happy — pass from friend to friend almost as if they were contagious viruses,” although not all experts agree.

Next week we’ll explore levity here at MAPpingCompanySuccess starting Monday with a review of the Levity Effect.

Please join us and add your thoughts on the subject.

Image credit: MykReeve on flickr

The Carrot Principle, AKA, How the Best Managers Use Recognition to Engage The People, Retain Talent and Accelerate Performance, by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton was first published in 2007.

A new, updated, release this month with a new chapter and the results of an extensive 10 year study of 200,000 managers and employees that confirms what most workers have always known—recognition, not just money, is what draws them in, engages them and results in high performance.

But there’s a catch. (There’s always a catch.)

You can’t just start running around throwing recognition and carrots at your people.

There are four basics of good management you need embedded in your culture—but first they need to be embedded in your MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™). They are

1. Goal Setting;
2. Communication;
3. Trust; and
4. Accountability.

The bad part is that if you don’t already believe in this stuff and have a culture that reflects it then the carrots of employee recognition will be tossed out by your people. Your people aren’t stupid; if you decide after reading the book that recognition is a better way than threats and screaming don’t expect to turn things round overnight. It’s going to take consistant effort over a period of time to convince your people that you’ve changed. How long depends on how bad you were and how sincere your changes are.

The good part is that you don’t have to work in a company or for a boss who thinks that way. Gostick and Elton give multiple examples of how “carrot culture” was implemented without support from either.

Carrot Principle walks you through the process and explains how recognition can be practiced in multiple moments without budget-busting amounts of money.

Recognition leads to extreme engagement and successful managers provide their people with frequent and effective recognition.

Image credit: Simon & Schuster