In answer to a request from Archie T. in Rockford, AL - "I'm very interested in learning more about why the games you use to improve businesses work as well as I'm told they do. To be honest, I think giving out gold stars to grown ups seems rather childish. Convince me otherwise."
 | The Million Dollar, Gold Star |
Authored By: Gene Levine, C.E.O. Gene Levine
One of the main goals in business is to increase profits. Very often these additional profits come from improving employee’s production. Is it possible that something that costs less than a penny was consistently able to improve employee output 30 percent or more? The answer is yes and that same idea made millions for our clients who used it.
Here's a question for you. Can you remember back when you were a child in school and when you did something so good the teacher gave you a gold star to take home to your parents? Or, were you ever awarded a scout’s merit badge or some another award for doing something special? If so, let me take what you felt – at the time – to a new, higher level, a level that could help you achieve your business or aspirations.
I was born in 1933 so I know first hand that during the Second World War (1941-1945), civilian doctors and dentists in the
My mother and I entered his office he asked my mother to wait in the waiting room and led me into his office. Instead of seating me, he motioned me to walk over to a hanging chart printed on poster board entitled "I CAN TAKE IT CLUB". The chart had many names that went down the left side of the chart. To the right of each name, were little boxes, many of which had gold stars in them. I recognized some names as being my classmates and friends. Dr. Maklin sensing I knew many of the names, spoke and said, "When I drilled your friend's teeth, they were brave, didn't scream, squirm, or cry. That’s how they got the gold stars." Without saying another word he sat me on the chair, put a bib on me and put a bit in his drill.
Sitting there silently anticipating what was going to soon take place, I made up my mind that if my friends got a gold star I could get one too. To this day I clearly remember the whirr of the drill, the smell of burning bone and how much it hurt. But, I wanted that gold star so I made up my mind I wasn’t going to move or cry! So as he drilled I kept pressing my eyes tight shut and squeezing the porcelain covered arms of that dental chair just as hard as I could.
He stopped drilling, began to fill the hole he just made, and I hadn’t cried. Yippee, I did it!
After he finished filling the cavity, Dr. Maklin bragged about me to my mother as he first wrote down my name on his chart and then put a gold star next to my name. Little did I realize it at the time but that was to be the most important gold star I would ever receive in my life. Let me explain.
Seventeen years after I received that star, in 1959 when I was 26 years old, I was called into Howard Stringer's office. He was V.P. of Manufacturing at Allendale Garment Company in
On the drive to the Barnwell factory, Howard explained that Barnwell had been making the same style garment for years so it was an easy factory to manage. He emphasized that in Barnwell nothing needed to be changed. "Levine," he said, "even though the sewing methods in Barnwell differ from those in the Allendale factory everything in Barnwell is balanced, everything is going smoothly, everyone’s happy so don’t you change anything!” He then told me, “The truck will go to Barnwell only on Fridays. It will drop off next week's work, pick up the finished goods and then return to Allendale. Let's keep it that way.”
He closed by repeating, “No changes please.” As he got in his Caddie I said to him, “OK, I’ll see yuh” as I then watched him drive away.
In Barnwell I immediately began talking to the sewing machine operators. After all, Howard told me not to change things. He made no mention of not talking to operators.
I soon learned that the operators felt they couldn’t earn more money because they perceived the piece rates were too low (at that time they were earning an average of $.60 per hour against a $.75 Base rate wage). They complained about the unsympathetic and often sarcastic and bossy industrial engineers that came in from time to time. I had enough knowledge of time study to check out the production standards. What I found was, 1) The methods being used differed from those employed in Allendale. 2) The piece rates, for these different methods were all very loose (meaning that the machine operators could produce far more than they were presently producing).
The more I questioned the operators and listened to their answers the more I realized the operator's negative mental attitude towards the engineers was de-motivating them thereby costing the company I worked for a large loss in production. I wanted to help motivate the machine operators to earn more money, but I didn't want to violate Howard's instructions not to change any methods.
Then an idea came to me without warning as I walked downtown to buy something. I passed a stationary supply store and they had a sign in the window stating poster boards were on sale.
So, I bought six poster boards and a box of gold stars and returning to the factory and designed six "I CAN MAKE $1.00 PER HOUR CLUB" charts. I created the same graphic’s graph that I saw 17 years earlier at Dr. Maklin’s office. This time however, operator’s names were placed one under the other on the left side of the chart and the same series of small boxes went on the right of the names. I then had the receptionist print each of the operator's names on the charts.
I then brought the supervisors into the office and showed them the charts. I explained that, ”Whenever any operator earned $1.00 or more that operator would get a gold star.” Immediately the supervisor’ facial expressions indicated that they were convinced that their new Yankee boss was nuts. In unison, they told me, "How can you expect them to earn $1.00 when no one is even close. . . and do it for silly little stars?" I told them my story of Dr. Maklin and told them to wait. After work, when everyone left the building I put the charts up on the wall and said to myself; “Dr. Maklin, do your thing again, this time for me.”
Then next day I told the supervisors, “If any operator asks you what the charts mean just tell them that whenever you earn $1.00 per hour or more you’ll get gold stars next to your name.”
Every day, for weeks, as the supervisors were preparing to leave for the night, they would melodically sing-song that, “No one’s earned $1.00 yet.” They would then smile and close the outside door behind them.
Then one day, after three weeks had passed the first star appeared. BINGO. For at least that one operator the gold star did its job.
The next day that same operator got another star. On the third day the same operator got her third star but, now another star appeared elsewhere on the chart. The race was on. The game had begun.
Stars began popping up evenly all over the charts and the supervisors couldn’t understand why. That scenario was the trigger that started me on a unique out-of-the-box approach to productivity improvement and getting people motivated that would one day become my trademark. See, you never know where life will lead you. What would have happened if I never had a toothache when I was 9 years old?
Anyway, back to Barnwell where production began to pick up so fast I had to call the Allendale Factory and ask Charlie Crews if he would send the truck out to two days earlier because I couldn't wait till Friday as the operators were running out of work. I soon received a phone call from Howard Stringer asking me why the production had increased? I told him, “The only thing I could think of was that the operators decided to up production on their own” – which was true.
Later that day, when Howard Stringer’s car pulled up in front of the Barnwell factory and I saw his mood I sensed I was in big trouble. As he walked into the factory chomping on his cigar, he immediately saw the charts on the wall. He then motioned to me to put my ear near his lips because he must have felt that the new loud roar of the machines would make it difficult to hear him.
"Just what are those" he asked – pointing to the charts? After I explained the the Dr. Maklin story to him he walked towards the doors and sternly said, "Levine, you be in my office in about an hour!" I nodded sheepishly and based on his departing mood after he left I felt I was soon going to be fired.
I then drove to Allendale and when I entered his office Howard silently handed me an envelope with my name neatly typed on it. He asked me to open it. When I did, I received the shock of my life. Instead of the expected notice that I was fired, on a plain white piece of paper was a gold star, Howard's signature and the words, "Congratulations on your promotion and your raise in pay." When I looked up, he was smiling! “I’m taking you out of Barnwell on Monday and I want to know if you can do that damned gold star thing in all our other factories?” Which, by the way, I did with even better results.
Ever since that fateful day when the first star appeared on the charts, I have used various games to get results by visibly rewarding people for some extra accomplishment. I teach that games should never be thought of or used as exploitation tools. My seminar attendees and clients who now use my games have learned that games are productive tools that can accomplish goals in an untraditional way and can make work fun.
Gold stars, badges, roses, or even imprinted tee-shirts etc., can be given for perfect quality, suggestions, zero timework, exceeding customer’s expectations, perfect safety or attendance, etc. The higher and harder the goal is to reach the more meaningful the award will be (The Olympics will confirm that truth).
How about a company mascot? Have a contest. In my Professional Series Supervisory Training Manual I discuss the positive impact of letting all the people in the factory design, create, submit and vote which of the submitted mascots best portrays the company image. Pay the winner $100.00 and use that mascot to get the employees motivated.
Award the mascot to a section or group that has the highest productivity increase or the most improved quality, or anything else you want to improve — for a week. If any section wins the mascot three weeks in a row give that entire section (including the supervisor and any service personnel), a day off with pay or, an extra day’s pay.
The hundreds of different games I use in my career are far beyond the scope of this book. But, through the use of motivational games, I have seen accomplishments that management would have deemed "impossible" in quieter moments.
To make games work you must have a belief in people and the fact that children, (even those who have now grown into your employees) love games and fondly remember gold stars.
Here’s what I learned from using the gold star to increase productivity; money motivates membership not performance. Attaining a gold star was the goal. To get it, they had to produce more. The money was secondary and only a way for the achievers to keep score.
By the way, the story you just finished reading is also how the gold star which was given to me by Dr, Maklin became my company logo.
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