Gung Ho has talked about the spirit of the squirrel, way of the beaver and now the gift of the goose. The gift of the goose is about cheering people on. It is important for people to feel they are needed and appreciated on a job. People also like to feel pride in their work and any other accomplishments that take place.

One of the points that Gung Ho! Gift of the Goose, makes is that active or passive, congratulations must be TRUE. According to Gung Ho!:

* Congratulations are affirmations that who people are and what they do matter, and that they are making a valuable contribution toward achieving the shared mission. * Telling people what a great job they’ve done or presenting an award is an active congratulation. Passive congratulations are such things as stepping aside and letting team member go forward with a tricky, complicated, and important project, without exercising some sort of control or even offering advice. * You can’t overdo TRUE congratulations: Timely, Responsive, Unconditional, Enthusiastic.

Active affirmations are telling people what a great job they are doing. It is easy to use active affirmation, because everywhere a person goes they can normally see someone doing a good job and it is easy to tell that person they are doing a good job. Passive affirmation is standing by and letting someone carry on a task without taking control of the situation. It is harder to sit by and do nothing, however a supervisor is giving a strong message that they believe in that person.

It is important for an organization to succeed based on workers morale. Imagine going to work every day and not enjoying the job, because the position is mundane, poor supervision, or terrible co-workers/team members. Many people go to work to earn a paycheck; if they enjoy their job then it is usually considered a bonus. If an organization takes note of a job well done, then most likely a person will be excited to be there. It is important to make sure supervisors follow the TRUE congratulations. If a supervisor or co-worker sees a job well done then they need to issue a timely congratulation and let other members know about the job well done. Team members should be responsive and listen to each other. Having supervisors and co-workers who are enthusiastic about what they or other members are doing to improve their job performance should make a difference regarding team building and changing the performance of the entire organization.

“No score, no game, and cheer the progress” is another point that Gung Ho! Gift of the Goose, makes. Some examples that this book uses to describe this statement are:

* At football games fans don’t sit mute as the ball is moved down the field, waiting for the touchdown before cheering. Cheer the progress, not just the results. Measurement (score) shared with everyone generates excitement. * The farther congratulations are to the right on the scale below, the better (more effective) they are:
Programmed Spontaneous
Blanket Individual
General Specific
Traditional Unique

* Stop focusing on problems and the guilty party (police behavior) and start looking for those responsible for things gone right (coach behavior).

A great example of this would be cheering on a child at a track meet. The more a parent cheers for their child, then harder a child will run to the finish line. This example is the same in any situation. Human tendency is to seek approval of other members of your class. It is important for team members to cheer for their counterparts. Each member of an organization has a valuable reason to be there, each member wants to succeed. If a member does not feel they are doing what is needed then they should leave the organization. The more an organization cheers on their employees then the more the employees will do for the organization.

It is important that each supervisor or team member give praise for a job well done. This does not mean to give false praise. Praise is more important when it has not been asked for. Usually team members will appreciate congratulations on completing smaller jobs then seeking congratulations for the bigger jobs. Also as an organization, it is important to offer congratulations to individuals then to a whole department. Seek out the team members who are doing things right. As an organization, do not give praise for a general reason the organization needs to be very specific. An example would be congratulations on shaving five minutes on an assembly line for inserting a specific item into the overall product. An organization would also be good for offering congratulations on a unique situation instead of the traditional situation. An example would be offering congratulations for a high risk, high injury department to be accident free for fourteen days instead of congratulating the entire organization for being accident free for fourteen days.

Also organizations should start looking for the team members that are responsible for making things go right. It is important to have role models for each organization in order for team members to have an idea of what is expected in each department. Supervisors and other team members should be able to help or mentor the members that have problems or issues with their work.

The final point that Gung Ho! Gift of the Goose, makes is E = mc^2 (Enthusiasm equals mission times cash and congratulations).

* Worthwhile work and being in control of achieving the goal – that’s a mission. * Cheering each other on brings enthusiasm to work. * Cash comes first – you need to feed material needs, (food, clothing, etc.) before you can feed the spirit with congratulations.

An organization that wants to succeed should treat their team members accordingly. The organization should have clear specific goals that team members can follow. As each goal is completed then the organization should take notice and reward the members accordingly. As each team member seeks approval of other team members then that will bring enthusiasm to work. When people enjoy working with each other than people tend to also take pride in their work. An organization can offer different types of contest with different types of rewards. Team members feel the need to feel as though they have accomplished a common goal and win something for it. People tend to bring a competitive nature to an organization if they realize they have the chance to win if they do something right. An option would be to setup a specific type of reward system.

According to Managing Behaviors in Organizations, “Reward systems should generously and fairly recognize individuals’ contributions, but they should not be so specific as to connect literally every move to a bonus or some type of monetary reward. To do so discourages people form taking the kinds or risks that makes innovation possible.” (362) Organizations can create team based reward systems in order to foster cooperation within a department. This would require a portion of the employee’s salary be based on the department’s performance. The mindset is that people are rewarded will focus all of their energies on group performance and will help the group when a section is lacking the skills needed to finish a project. This reward system usually reaps benefits in terms of increased job satisfaction and productivity.