Snickers claims to “Satisfy your hunger,” and Twix
offers you a “moment.” Through these
candy bar mottos, it seems that a candy bar can fix whatever problem you might
be having. I don’t think that these
candy makers understand how big an impact these candy bars can actually make.
A number
of years ago, I was working as an hourly employee in retail operations. One night, the energy of the team was low,
and progress on completing our tasks for the evening reflected the low energy
of the team. In an attempt to motivate
us, one of the managers offered candy bars to the group who completed a
specific task first. I can’t say for
each individual what was more motivating.
Whether it was achieving a victory in a pseudo-competition, or the fact
that there was a candy bar as a reward for achieving the given objective; the
team jumped into action.
The
event with the candy bar has continued to intrigue me, and I have often
reflected back to that situation. If
that manager had offered the team an extra 89 cents, the cost of an average
candy bar, would they have reacted similarly?
My opinion is no, because I certainly don’t feel that I would have been
motivated by a handful of loose change.
As I
have developed my career into a salaried position in retail operations
leadership, I have continued to see the impact of what I call the Candy Bar
Effect. I have used this as leverage in
many ways, to reward employees for achieving a specific goal, even to get
employees to pick up additional shifts when they were debating with other
managers about their inability to stay.
It continues to impress me how much of an impact a simple 89-cent candy
bar can make when offered as a reward. I
have offered this as a reward to all ages, and for various different reasons,
and know that it continues to work consistently.
I think
this is a good reminder that sometimes it is the small things that have the
potential to make a big difference in not only achieving objectives, but in
building relationships to develop an engaged and motivated team.
