News
Chester discusses employee communication on ABC News Now
How to Talk to Your Employees
Carrots Booth Wins Best In Show at ASTD Training & Development Expo
Washington D.C.—Impact may be an understatement. The Carrot Culture Group attended the 2009 American Society of Training and Development’s International Conference and they walked away with the most coveted prize of all—the Best In Show Award.
Watching the booth it was easy to see the award was well deserved. “It was non-stop action for three days—people really connected with the message,” says Pat Poyfair, Leadership & Training Manager with the Carrot Culture Group. “The perfect mix of relevant message, an awesome staff, and a cool booth filled every session to capacity—all day, every day.”
“It was a no-brainer to award you guys Best In Show,” said Sean Soth, ASTD Consultant. “You were heads and shoulders above the other 320 other booths.”
“Overall it was a wild success. Not only did we walk away with an amazing lead tally,” continues Poyfair, “but we’ve since been approached by several other conference and trade show organizers. Three prominent conferences have approached us insisting we attend their show.”
Judging criteria included approachable staff, aesthetic booth design, relevant give-aways and overall clean appearance.
Held each spring, the American Society for Training & Development’s International Conference & Exposition hosts this premiere event for training and workforce development professionals—welcoming attendees from more than 70 countries. The conference features 300+ educational sessions from industry-leading experts, and a world-class EXPO filled with the latest products and services from top suppliers.
If you want details about the award-winning booth, contact Pat Poyfair at: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 800.474.4940
The Carrot Principle hits the BusinessWeek Bestseller List
The second edition of The Carrot Principle hits the BusinessWeek Bestseller list.
The authors, long devoted to the dissemination of “carrot culture,” are back, listing techniques for recognizing and praising the performers in an organization, the thing so many managers are afraid to do.
Chester on ABC Money Matters
Dodging the Dreaded Pink Slip 5 Tips to Keep Your Job
A Carrot A Day Online Recognition Training Wins International Award
Salt Lake City, Utah—The Carrot Culture Group, the training division of O.C. Tanner, along with MyFire Learning was recently awarded a Silver Award for the 2009 Horizon Interactive Awards for A Carrot A Day Online Recognition Training.
The Horizon Interactive Awards is a prestigious international competition recognizing outstanding achievement among interactive media producers. In January of each year, the Horizon Interactive Awards receives hundreds of entries from all over the world. A panel of industry professionals, from diverse multi-media, graphic design and marketing backgrounds, review the entries to determine the work that is to be recognized.
“Of course we’re thrilled to receive the award,” says Steve Gibbons, a Senior Manager in the Carrot Culture Group, a division of O.C. Tanner. “This is what it’s all about—being recognized for your work!”
A Carrot A Day Online Recognition Training was launched in January of 2009 and has been used by numerous companies all over the world to train their managers.
“We’ve also received great feedback from clients who have taken the course,” says Gibbons. “However, the best feedback is to see the cultural and business results those companies witnessed after using the training—which, is our ultimate focus. To receive this award is a sweet cherry on top.”
What is the judging criteria?
- Horizon Interactive judges look for the best blend between creativity and functionality. Each entry is judged on the following:
- Solution creativity and originality
- Overall graphic design/appearance/user experience
- Communication of message
- Technical merit
- Effectiveness of solution
What is A Carrot A Day Online Recognition Training?
Based on the New York Times bestselling book, The Carrot Principle, and from O.C. Tanner’s groundbreaking research in employee recognition, A Carrot A Day Online Recognition Training teaches managers, via the internet, how to implement recognition efforts in their company—and because the training is conducted completely through web-based, highly interactive training modules, it’s accessible to managers, anywhere and anytime.
To learn more about A Carrot A Day Online Recognition Training or any other Carrot training offerings click here.
Chester on Fox Business Network
Chester discusses how businesses can increase their bottom line with praise.
The Power of Recognition — Chester interviewed by BusinessWeek
Small gestures, such as handwritten notes from managers, can go a long way in increasing employee engagement and retention, says Chester Elton, co-author of The Carrot Principle.
The Carrot Principle hits #3 on the New York Times Bestseller list
NEWS FLASH: The Carrot Principle second edition is #3 on the New York Times bestseller list!
Click here to download the associated PDF.The Carrot Principle hits #1 on Amazon and Barnes & Noble
The Carrot Principle: #1 on Amazon.com, and #1 on Barnes&Noble.com We’re big fans of saying “Thanks.” And, we couldn’t wait to show our appreciation for your support last week during the launch of second edition of The Carrot Principle, with new global research. In a matter of days, we’ll find out where we stand on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller’s lists. Keep checking here for updates!
#1 in Communication
#1 in Leadership
#1 in Business Management
#1 in Management
#10 Overall!
Chester appears on ABC News to discuss the Power of Praise
Watch the full clip here.
Chester Appears on CNN to Discuss Recognition
Chester on CNN: Discusses The Carrot Principle, that recognition has a proven impact on employee engagement and that specific (rather than general) praise has more impact.
Chester on Fox discusses how Q1 earnings impact Wall Street’s rally
Chester on Fox discusses how Q1 earnings impact Wall Street's rally.
Chester appears on Fox & Friends
Chester appears on Fox & Friends to share a few tips for people looking for a job.
Chester Interviewed at the HR European Directors Business Summit
Chester interviewed by Jason Spiller at the HR European Directors Business Summit in London
Chester Elton on Fox News
Chester appears on Fox News to discuss bank failures and how employees deal with the uncertainty.
Chester Appears on CNN
Chester appears with CNN's Your Bottom Line with Gerri Willis to discuss how to fireproof your job in a bad economy.
Adrian Gostick appears on Fox
Adrian Gostick discusses some helpful hints on how to get a raise during a recession.
Chester Elton on CNN
Chester Elton appears on CNN to discuss getting back to work within the current economic climate.
Chester’s Interview with HRZone
HRZone.co.uk exclusively interviewed motivational expert Chester Elton, best-selling author and vice president of O.C. Tanner, at the HR Directors' Business Summit in Birmingham this week. In this video, he shares with us his thoughts on the burning issues in HR today, including the challenges that HR faces over the next five years and how HR departments can play an instrumental part in building a culture of innovation in the workplace.
Chester appears on Fox News
Chester Elton appears on Fox news to discuss the current economy. He recommends investing in people and says that managers need to excel in goal-setting, communication, trust, and accountability in order to help us out of our economic troubles.
Chester on Fox News
Chester appears on Fox Business news to discuss how to manage employees who fear for their jobs due to economic uncertainty.
FranklinCovey to offer Carrot Training
FranklinCovey Acquires International Rights to Sell Employee Recognition Training Based on New York Times Bestseller The Carrot Principle Outside North America
FranklinCovey today announced it has acquired the rights to sell employee recognition training based on concepts from the New York Times bestselling business book The Carrot Principle. FranklinCovey will sell this training to countries outside of North America. The training will help leaders and managers learn how to better engage and retain employees, by recognizing and rewarding their talent, productivity, and contribution, which is a critical strategy for business success, especially during difficult economic times.
“Authors Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton are recognized thought leaders in employee engagement, and we are pleased to partner with them and the O.C. Tanner Company,” said Sean Covey, Senior Vice President and Chief Architect of Innovation and Products at FranklinCovey. “Their work furthers our mission to improve leaders and teams and will give our clients the skills they need to appreciate great employees and their work and increase further business results.”
The Carrot Principle, released by Simon & Schuster in 2007, has already been published in 15 languages. Based on a 200,000-person, 10-year research study, the book demonstrates the benefits of effective recognition—including increased employee retention, productivity, and commitment. The Wall Street Journal lauded the book’s “startling data on the strong correlation between recognition and return on equity.”
“Great leaders use recognition as a way to build confidence, focus employees on the right behaviors, and retain and engage their key people,” said Stephan Mardyks, president of FranklinCovey International. “The iconic Carrot and the authors’ universal leadership messages will resonate with managers in Mumbai, Moscow, or Manchester.”
Authors Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton add that the Carrot themes of employee engagement and recognition are even more important in today’s economic climate.
“The key to getting through any challenge—recession, merger, organizational change or competition—is your people,” said Gostick. “Recognition inspires employees to engage in the cause of your organization and understand their role in its success.”
“And with the expertise and reach of FranklinCovey, leaders and managers in 145 countries will now be able to learn the business benefits of frequent, specific and timely recognition,” said Elton. “After a decade of research and our work with some of the world’s most successful companies, we can attest that Carrots are not the soft side of business, but a proven business essential.”
About Carrots
Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton have published five Carrot-themed business books, which have sold 1 million copies worldwide. They are executives with the O.C. Tanner Company, the world’s largest employee recognition and appreciation solution provider. Learn more at www.carrots.com.
About FranklinCovey
FranklinCovey (NYSE: FC) is the global consulting and training leader in the areas of strategy execution, customer loyalty, leadership and individual effectiveness. Clients include 90 percent of the Fortune 100, more than 75 percent of the Fortune 500, thousands of small- and mid-sized businesses, as well as numerous government entities and educational institutions. FranklinCovey has 40 direct and licensee offices providing professional services in 147 countries. For more information, please visit www.franklincovey.com.
Adrian Gostick and Scott Christopher appear on Today’s Show
Adrian Gostick and Scott Christopher appear on the Today's Show to talk about levity in the workplace
Adrian Gostick appears on MSNBC’s Street Signs
Adrian Gostick weighs in on The Levity Effect on Street Signs with Erin Burnett
Why saying “Thank you” is more than just good manners
A 10-year study of 200,000 managers and employees suggests that praising people for a job well done may lead to bigger profits, says Fortune’s Anne Fisher.
NEW YORK (Fortune) — Dear Annie: I changed jobs last year, going from a small company (where I had worked since the start-up phase, over a decade ago) to an organization about 10 times bigger. I’ve made the adjustment pretty well, except for one thing. My old employer was very gung-ho about recognizing people for their achievements. If someone met a tough deadline or went above and beyond for a client, that person got a public pat on the back and maybe even a “prize” like a free dinner for two at a nice local restaurant.
My new company is completely different. No one ever says “thanks” for anything or shows any appreciation for extra effort, and as a result people don’t do anything more than the minimum required to get the job (sort of) done. I think this hurts the business, but I can’t convince my boss. Any thoughts? - Trying to Help
Dear Trying: I’d be willing to bet we’ve all worked in organizations like yours, at one time or another. Many years ago, Fortune had a top editor who made a point of never praising anyone for anything. Asked why not, he replied, “People who are good know they’re good. They don’t need to hear it.” Well, if any proof is needed that that approach to managing people is wrongheaded, here’s where to find it: The Carrot Principle (Free Press, $21.00), a fascinating book by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, both consultants at Salt Lake City-based consulting firm O.C. Tanner (www.octanner.com).
The book’s subtitle says a mouthful - “How the Best Managers Use Recognition to Engage Their People, Retain Talent, and Accelerate Performance” - but the basic idea is simple: People will work harder and more enthusiastically for an appreciative boss, and companies that praise topnotch performance are more profitable than those that don’t. In a study of 200,000 managers and employees over a 10- year period, Gostick and Elton found that, in companies where few people agreed with the statement “My organization recognizes excellence”, annual return on equity averaged a paltry 2.4 percent. By contrast, companies with a culture that emphasized thanking people for excellent performance racked up returns more than three times as high, at an average of 8.7 percent. (For the complete study, go to www.carrots.com, under Research.)
Of course, anybody who has taken Statistics 101 will tell you that correlation doesn’t always imply causation, and companies that praise their workers are probably doing lots of other things right, too. Even so, at a time when employers are competing fiercely for top talent, the authors note that 79 percent of employees in a recent poll who had quit their jobs cited lack of appreciation as the main reason. It seems saying “thank you” is even more important in retaining people than paying them more money - and a pat on the back is free.
How can you persuade your boss to start recognizing his team’s achievements? Adrian Gostick says that about one-third of managers in the Fortune 100 companies he works with are, like my old editor, dead set against the idea of praising people. “They don’t believe in it. They’re always the ones sitting in the back of the room at our seminars with their arms folded, and that negativity often spreads to others,” he says. “To overcome their resistance, we start by asking why they don’t want to. Often they say they don’t have time. But another big reason is, lots of managers want to be seen as ‘tough’, and recognizing people looks ‘soft’ to them. Another obstacle is that they just don’t know how.”
That doesn’t mean your boss can’t change. Gostick says that, in a former career as vice president of a bank, “I had to be told to recognize people. My employees urged me to do it.” He adds, “We’ve found that, if you encourage a reluctant boss to start with just a few small things, he or she is often pleasantly surprised by the response and will want to do more.”
The Carrot Principle is full of creative ideas for thanking employees, and you might take a look at those, and pass a few suggestions along to your boss. But some of them - like buying lunch for all employees who have to work on a Saturday and inviting their families to join them; or springing for an extra plane ticket so a spouse can accompany an employee on a business trip - may be too much for the budget. No problem.
Says co-author Chester Elton, “You don’t need to spend a lot of money to make an employee feel valued. We find that a handwritten thankyou note, which costs next to nothing and takes just a couple of minutes, is something people really love to get. It’s far more effective than an e-mail, especially if it’s timely and specific. It should say, not just ‘Way to go!’, but ‘You did a terrific job on that XYZ project’. We’ve seen people who are so pleased to get these that they keep them for years.”
But let’s say you show your boss the bottomline results of Gostick and Elton’s research and make a few gentle suggestions for how to start recognizing people, and he doesn’t budge. You know the grassroots-political maxim, “Be the change you’d like to see in the world”? If you were to make a habit of thanking colleagues and praising the people around you for a job well done - beginning with (why not?) your boss - who knows? You just might start something big.
Click here to download the associated PDF.The Carrot Principle, a Wall Street Journal Bestseller
The Carrot Principle hits #5 on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list.
- The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell / Back Bay (P)
- Good to Great, by Jim Collins / Collins (H)
- Four-Hour Workweek, by Timothy Ferriss / Crown (H)
- Strengthsfinder 2.0, by Tom Rath / Gallup Press (H)
- The Carrot Principle, by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton / Free Press
- Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, by T. Harv Eker / HarperBusiness (H)
- Rich Dad Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki, Sharon Lechter / Warner Business (P)
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick M. Lencioni / Jossey-Bass (H)
- Now, Discover Your Strengths, by Marcus Buckingham, Donald O. Clifton / Free Press (H)
- Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner / William Morrow (H)
- Who Moved My Cheese, by Spencer Johnson / Putnam (H)
- The Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb / Random House (H)
- The Last Chance Millionaire, by Andrew Douglas / Business Plus (H)
- Getting Things Done, by David Allen / Penguin (P)
- Where Have All the Leaders Gone, by Lee Iacocca / Simon & Schuster (H)
Click here to download the associated PDF.The Carrot Principle, a New York Times Bestseller
The Carrot Principle becomes a National Bestseller
Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous
- The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne. (Atria/Beyond Words, $23.95.) The law of attraction as a key to getting what you want.
- The Best Life Diet, by Bob Greene. (Simon & Schuster, $26.) A lifelong plan for losing weight.
- You: On a Diet, by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz et al. (Free Press, $25.) Weight-loss tips.
- The Proper Care and Feeding of a Marriage,, by Laura C. Schlessinger. (HarperCollins, $25.95.) Advice for couples on understanding each other.
- Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, by T. Harv Eker. (HarperBusiness, $19.95.) Identifying and then changing your “money blueprint.”
- It’s All Too Much, by Peter Walsh. (Free Press, $22.) How to get rid of clutter and organize your home.
- Now, D iscover Y our S trengths, by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton (Free Press)
- The Carrot Principle, by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton (Free Press)
- Mad Money, by James J. Cramer with Cliff Mason (Simon & Schuster)
- Cesar’s Way, by Cesar Milan with Melissa Jo Peltier (Harmony)
- LL Cool J’s Platinum Workout, by LL cool J and Dave Honig with Jeff O’Connell (Rodale)
- Words that Work, by Frank Luntz (Hyperion)
- teach like Your Hair’s on Fire, by Rafe Esquith (Viking)
- More Natural Cures Revealed, by Kevin Trudeau (Alliance Publishing Group)
- Your Best Life Now, by Joel Osteen (Warner Faith)
Click here to download the associated PDF.Appreciation in The Workplace
Chester appears on ABC News' Money Matters.
The Carrot Principle tells us how recognition improves worker productivity.
Chester Elton on MSNBC
Chester joins JJ Ramberg, Anchor of "Your Business" on MSNBC to discuss recognition in the workplace.
Employees invisible? Chances are your success will be, too.
John Worsley Simpson of the Financial Post writes about the Invisible Employee.
The Book: The Invisible Employee Realizing the Hidden Potential in Everyone (John Wiley & Sons) 140 pp., $25.99
The Authors: Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton
There’s an anecdote in this little gem of a book that made my blood boil. Chances are this sort of thing has happened to you. It has to me: A public relations officer in a major U.S. bank is assigned to write a cost-of-living report for the corporate economist. It’s a long and detailed process, and requires intelligence and skill. Walking down the hall one day, the PR officer overhears the economist talking to the PR director, saying, “Could you get this over to the girl who does the cost-of-living report.” The “girl” had met with this fellow a couple of times a month for more than a year, and he didn’t even know her name. There’s a word for people like that, but I’ll restrain myself. The purpose of this book is to tell employers and managers that not only is it human decency to recognize all your employees, it’s also good business.
The best and most loyal staffs are not created by financial compensation alone, but also by recognition, by acknowledgement and by public accolades for good work. And it pays off, the authors say. By heralding the achievements of its staff, a Colorado energy company reckons it has generated more than US$15-million in savings in one year from the suggestions made by engaged employees. The book cites many such cases, and a continuing Gallup survey supports their contention, finding that workers who are recognized are more productive, have fewer on-the-job accidents, and translate their satisfaction into customer satisfaction.