What is Carrot and Stick | Explained in 2 min
How to implement a carrot and stick policy
Start your team’s carrot-and-stick motivational strategy by following these steps:
1. Set a goal
You must establish a target for your employees when you first implement a “carrot and stick” policy. It should be measurable and achievable within a deadline. You must be clear about what you want your team to accomplish and specify a deadline for completion of the task.
Your employees are more likely to achieve your desired objectives and receive their rewards if you start with a series of small, doable goals. It is crucial to start small with objectives you are certain your team can complete. This will facilitate the implementation of your “carrot and stick” strategy.
Your objective should be a quantifiable target, like a specific output in terms of production or sales, or some other metric that is widely used by your staff. Instead of simply stating the goal, “Increase sales,” choose a goal like “Increase sales by 5% by the end of this quarter.” ”.
2. Create an incentive
The secret to the carrot-and-stick strategy is using a perk that employees find interesting or appealing. Choose a reward you can give for achieving the objective. You could give your staff members one of the following four types of rewards:
If you see that few employees are able to accomplish your goal, consider offering a different reward to see if that improves motivation. If there doesn’t seem to be enough interest, change your reward, or make bigger rewards for bigger, more difficult goals, as needed.
3. Decide who is eligible to receive the carrot
Additionally, you must determine who qualifies for the reward and make any prerequisites known to all employees. You might choose to decide to give each employee a small reward if everyone exceeds your goal. As an alternative, you might decide to give the employee who performed the best a bigger reward. For instance, if you set a sales target for your employees and they meet it, you could give everyone a small reward, like a staff party or catered lunch, or you could decide to give the top employee a larger, more exclusive prize, like a bonus.
4. Outline a consequence
Choose a penalty for staff members with the worst performance or who don’t meet the stated goal, and make sure it’s made clear. Your staff members will be more likely to believe that you will follow through on the “stick” if they consistently receive the “carrot” when they accomplish their goals. They will be more motivated to comply with your carrot and stick motivation strategy once they realize that you take it seriously
5. Decide who is eligible to receive the stick
You must determine who receives a consequence just like with the incentive. For those who failed to meet your criteria, you could impose a light penalty, or you could impose a harsher penalty on the worker who performed the task the worst.
For instance, if you want to reach a certain production output but only half of your employees can, you could choose to have them help with inventory or choose the person who produced the least and assign them the task of keeping the break room clean for the next two weeks.
6. Choose your carrot and stick policy carefully
If you decide to reward every employee who can meet or exceed your goal, then your penalty should only be imposed on the worker who performed the worst. Similar to that, if you are praising the employee who performed best, give a light penalty to everyone else who fell short of your expectations. This can assist you in preventing the division of your staff into those who received a small reward and those who received a small punishment.
Your team should work together to achieve the objectives you’ve set while still having room for competition. There won’t be much incentive to achieve the objective or avoid group punishment if everyone receives either a reward or a punishment. Instead, single out the employee who performed the best or the worst to encourage staff to be the one who receives the carrot rather than the stick.
What is carrot and stick motivation?
Offering a “carrot” (a reward—for good behavior) and a “stick” (a negative consequence—for poor behavior) is known as the “carrot and stick” method of motivation. It inspires employees by establishing achievable goals and alluring incentives for workers who can change their conduct and output. It is a quick and efficient method of giving employees feedback.
A reward and consequence system can be used in the workplace to motivate employees in line with the carrot and stick theory. An efficient method of extrinsic motivation in the workplace is the use of the carrot and stick strategy. Create a carrot and a stick that are related to the goal you want your staff to achieve before setting the goal itself.
For instance, you need a reward for those who sign contracts with five new clients each month from your sales team and a penalty for those who don’t if you want them to achieve that goal. Your reward could be a higher commission on those five sales, and the penalty could be a reduction in commission for the worker who brought in the fewest new clients that month.
The carrot-and-stick method can be very effective at changing your employees’ behavior by encouraging them to refrain from actions that will result in punishment and engage in actions that will result in rewards. This strategy can encourage workers to achieve your desired results as long as your reward is desirable and your consequence is undesirable.
Carrot and stick examples
The key to making the carrot and stick strategy effective is using incentives and penalties that actually inspire employees. Employees won’t be motivated to work toward achieving the objectives you set if you provide a reward or consequence that no one wants or cares about.
Examples of rewards for staff members include:
Depending on your company culture, you can choose the most desirable rewards. Consider a spa day, a membership to a gym, or a massage, for instance, if your team places a high value on health and wellness.
Be sure to keep your carrot and your stick balanced. It should be just as motivating to get the reward as to avoid the punishment. To motivate your staff to alter their behavior and accomplish the objectives you have set, you must have both in place.
Depending on the job, the potential penalties that could be applied in a carrot-and-stick strategy will vary greatly. Here are some examples:
