Careful use of Carrots & Sticks for motivating Change
1. Carrots Are Not About Rewarding the “Best” Performer
In a period of transition, rewarding the highest target, the fastest adopter, or the top scorer is a mistake. That kind of reward structure is a performance incentive, and performance does not reflect reality during early-stage adaptation. A performance-based carrot sends the wrong signal — that mastery is already expected. Instead, carrots should reward:
constructive engagement
effort and curiosity
willingness to try
honest participation in learning
behaviours that move the change forward
You're rewarding the mindset and behaviours that support adaptation, not the outputs that come much later once capability stabilises.
2. Sticks Are Not About Punishing Low Performance
Similarly, sticks at this stage should not punish people for “not hitting the number”, not learning fast enough, or not meeting a target that only makes sense once the new way of working is embedded. The stick should only be applied to behaviours that actively hold back the change, such as:
refusing to use the new system when support is available
undermining colleagues’ efforts
promoting workarounds that weaken adoption
withholding essential information
blocking progress without justification
These are behaviours that damage the transition — not the same as struggling, being uncertain, or being slow to learn.
This distinction matters because in an adaptive phase: errors are normal, variation is expected, learning curves differ, capability must be built, not judged. Punishing people for their learning pace will stall adoption rather than accelerate it.
During change, what you reinforce should match the stage people are in.
Reward behaviours that help people move through the transition, not the outputs that come once they’ve mastered it.
Correct behaviours that genuinely slow down or undermine progress, not honest mistakes made along the way.