Good morning, Team!  It’s Friday!

We’ve all heard about the two management styles of “carrot” or “stick”.  Its origin is debatable but if you have a stubborn situation requiring some enticing, you could suggest the issue is a stubborn animal (mule) that can be potentially motivated by dangling a carrot just outside of its mouths reach or beaten with a stick.

In my time leading, being led, managing,  and being managed…I preferred carrot over stick.  No surprise.  It is surprising, however, how many donkey riders out there quickly resort to the stick.

It was always easier for me to assume the proverbial donkey was actually just a pudgy pony that simply needed to be treated as a race horse-in-training and it was MY job to encourage the dark horse to evolve into the front runner.

When reactions, behaviors, fire alarm calls and granular focus on trailing indicators occur especially now – toward year end – when people get anxious about financial performance, it easily becomes a stick world.

When you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

When your only tool is a stick, everyone looks like a jackass.

But…

Leaders rely on influence and don’t mandate conformance.

So…

Put down your stick, grab a carrot and stand out in a stick world.

Challenge:

Think about a situation where you felt justified using a stick leadership style.  Now turn the tables and put yourself in the shoes of the recipient you just “stuck” and imagine how that felt.  Next, think how you would have preferred to be encouraged.  Finally, reconsider whether the stick is still justified.

Have a blessed weekend!