Are you still using the carrot and the stick?

For our grandparents, the predominant leadership model was command & control. Leaders told their team what to do and the team was pretty much expected to follow. Teams moved when the leader pushed them.

For our parents, the carrot was added to the equation and the predominant leadership model was the carrot & the stick. Leaders used incentives to motivate their team to do what they wanted them to do – either by force or by candy. Teams moved when the leader managed to attract them. Yet, by attaching the incentives to goals it was still the leader who decided what was right and what wasn’t.

Today, leadership is shifting to a model that’s based much more on trust and inspiration. Leaders inspire rather than enforce actions. Rather than to incentivise goals, they light the path to make their team see what they see.

We see more and more leaders trust in the ability of their team to make the right decisions. Their tools aren’t carrots or sticks, but clarity, empathy, and trust.