Carrots and Sticks Don't Work by Dr. Paul Marciano Book Review

Earlier this year I had reviewed Dan Pink’s book Drive which discussed intrinsic motivation. After seeing my review, Dr. Paul Marciano asked if I would comment on his book Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work: Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles of RESPECT since it had a similar message. This was very definitely the case. However, in comparison, Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work was more practical and Drive was more academic.

In my business, which is promotional products, I have an up close opportunity to see how people use branded items for rewards and motivation. So the inclusion of a related story in the book really struck home for me. Let’s call it the “tube sock” story.

Briefly, a company had instituted a safety program where employees were given company-branded merchandise for achieving various safety goals. Employees were unimpressed. Not surprised. But then the company instituted a free tube sock “program” where employees were given free packs of tube socks for safety achievements. Were employees reaching the safety goals? Yes. But what was happening was that employees were actually having accidents, but were covering up for each other so they could keep the socks coming. What Paul emphasized to the client is that instituting a “program” for safety makes it optional or temporary for the duration of the program. So while the numbers look great and everybody seems to be happy, nothing has really changed for the long term, especially employee behavior.

Need more reasons not to use “programs” to motivate employees? There are 20 of them in the book! (And please, people, I advise you not to use promotional products to motivate customers or employees. That is not their proper use. They are tools to build your brand. If the recipient finds it a great experience to have your promo item, that’s a bonus, but should not be confused with a result.)

Engagement is one of the hot buzzwords in the social media arena right now. The concept is the more engaged you are with your audience and followers, the greater your influence and success. This is the new paradigm for marketing. Not surprisingly, engagement is also the new paradigm for success is organizations. As Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work emphasizes, “You cannot buy engagement, and you certainly cannot demand it… the extent to which employees are engaged has a lot less to do with them and a lot more to do with their supervisor and the organization as a whole.” The books model for greater employee engagement is RESPECT: Recognition, Empowerment, Supportive feedback, Partnering, Expectations, Consideration and Trust. Love easy to remember mnemonic devices!

Overall, I liked the book because it contains real-world tools and examples for becoming a more engaged and effective leader. Though I have compared Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work to Drive, I honestly think its message is more akin to Greater Than Yourself, by Steve Farber, which emphasizes the importance of building a culture that encourages leaders to be successful by helping others to be their best selves.