The Carrot and The Stick Management Theory

After earning my business degree, my desire to learn didn't stop.  I studied Jack Welch of GE and the idea of Six Sigma.  Get rid of the bottom 10%, there is a stick for sure.

A few people out there clearly won't accept my idea that some form of punishment or "stick" is required in business, and with children.  They will quickly point out that I am not a psychologist, nor do I have kids.

As a Co-Pilot on a big jet, there is a lot going on.  You can't see what the guy is doing behind you and are lucky to keep up with the guy to your left when you first start out.   As you move into the left seat and become the "Captain" or "Aircraft Commander", you get a better view.  You can see more of what is going on and make better decisions.  You don't become myopic as easily.

When you become and instructor and sit in the jump seat behind the two or three pilots, you become amazingly visionary.  Since you aren't actually doing anything, you see everything.  This is what coaches do for a business.  They stand back and look at the bigger picture, one owners and managers rarely see because they are "in" the business and get focused on some specific aspect causing them to be myopic.

In flying the "stick" when you do something really wrong is that somebody gets hurt.  Look at all of the aviation accidents, and then consider how safe flying still is.  The respect (not fear) of the "stick" is what keeps 99.9999% of all flights safe.  The next time an airliner stops for fuel, don't get mad at the pilots, thank them for not making you part of the punishment for being too aggressive on fuel.

To the people who say the stick isn't required, my rebut is simple.  Why are so many people incarcerated at such a high expense if the stick isn't required.  Deep down we all know the stick is required, but in our society of political correctness, we have made the stick soft.  Gym's, TV, three squares, baseball fields and movie nights?  While incarceration might sound bad to most of us.  Not enough of us respect or fear that stick, so too many end up getting hit by it.

My guess is the incarceration has more carrots than life on the outside for many of the people who are inside the high concrete walls.  Instead of spending $100,000 per year per inmate, why don't we spend $25,000 per year to help them become productive people?  Why don't we start with our children and get realistic on teaching them how life really works instead of trying to be "fair" to all of them.

As far as my experience with kids goes, my wife is a 20 year veteran of the 2nd grade classroom with an MBA.  I don't ever recall seeing her classes out of control or rambunctious, but I have seen many others.  Her techniques in the classroom are a big part of how we treat our niece and nephew when they stay with us.

My niece and nephew visit for extended periods because they live in other states.  Weekend visits aren't practical.  When they visit,  we don't have any trouble with them at all.  Neither of them have ever done anything to deserve capital punishment while they are with us.  They didn't get "Time Out" either, I think that is a joke.  Getting sent to their room?  In my house that is a multimedia entertainment room any kid would like to get sent to.   Our stick?  Easy, supervised chores with no reward.  When they did chores without being told too or without supervision and did them correctly, the same chores came with rewards.

When my nephew first came to stay for the summer he was an easy bribe.  A trip to the local Sonic on Friday, in the convertible, for an ice cream with just me, was the reward.  He wanted "Guy Time" and I work crazy hours.  So if he did his end of the deal, I would take time away from work to do my end.

The chore?  His room had to be picked up and his bed made every day for two weeks.  Did it work? Yes.  Did it take a little nudge the first couple of nights, yes.  He was just five years old.  He made his bed every day on the last visit with only one reminder.  He is 11.

By the time my nephew returned to my sister, his bed was made every day, and he picked his own reward for bigger and better chores.  The neat room and bed were just what he did after four weeks and two trips to the local Sonic.  He started asking to help me with more work around the property so he could spend more time with me or the other boys on the street.

When was the last time your kids asked for more work?

Am I an expert at raising kids? Nope.  Was I successful with my nephew when I had the chance?  I think so.

So the next two questions of course are:

1. How do I apply this to managing people?

2. How do I apply this to perform better myself?

Come back next week.....