The Carrot and Stick form of reward and punishment has been part of business and employee motivation for a very long time. Some might argue that this form of business motivation is the only way to get quality output. You give rewards (bonuses, raises, good reviews, perks, stock options) for a job well done. You give punishments (demotion, withholding of perks, firing) to those who do not perform to the standard you set. You stick that carrot on a stick out in front of the mule and hope he follows it. If that doesn’t work, you beat that stubborn beast to make it walk faster, plain and simple. The sad news is that science isn’t on your side (although even more sad is that you treat your employees like mules, but that’s a  topic for another day…)

In Daniel Pink’s book “Drive”, he highlights the flaw of carrot and stick. For almost 40 years, scientific studies have indicated that, when there is any – I repeat ANY – form of cognitive requirement to a task, that carrot and stick techniques generally reduce performance, both output and quality. That’s right – if you need a job done that includes any decision making, using a carrot is hurting your ability to get that job done fast and well. In the best case scenarios, it’s doing nothing to improve the results. In cases where the reward was higher, the results were the worst.

Sit with that a minute. Breathe it in. How often do you rely on rewards to talk your kids into things, to get employees to improve sales, to motivate your executives to meet their numbers? How much money is your company spending on incentives when it’s likely hurting your bottom line performance? It’s actually quite boggling when we examine how archaic business practices are for today’s world. We aren’t in factories that require robot performance any more. We have complex businesses that need creative, adaptable people. Those people do not respond to carrots (or sticks either, by the way). And in case you think I am not talking to you and your type of business, think again. This isn’t just anecdotal stuff so don’t blow this off.

As we move into the Conceptual Age that requires intrinsic motivation instead of extrinsic, business practices will have to change. This is one you can leverage today (with little to no equipment or training) to your advantage.

Read the book and see for yourself. Daniel writes a convincing case. Do you think you should give up the carrot and stick?