How Full Is Your Bucket?
Exclusive interview with Tom Rath, author of the best-selling How Full Is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life.

By Shari Lifland

Why do people leave their jobs? The #1 reason is that they don't feel appreciated. In fact, 65% of American workers say they have received absolutely no praise on the job in the past year. Tom Rath and Donald Clifton, executives with the Gallup Organization, wanted to find out what impact positive interactions have on people’s lives—both at work and at home. The result of that effort, How Full Is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life, is the first book published by Gallup Press.

The book’s title comes from a tale of “the dipper and the bucket.” The idea is that each person carries around an invisible bucket and dipper. We constantly empty or fill each other’s buckets, depending upon whether we interact in positive or negative ways. The key is that filling someone else’s bucket (for example, by praising their efforts) benefits both the person who gives and the person who receives the praise. The authors' thesis is that the lessons learned from this simple parable have a profound impact on people’s productivity, relationships, health and happiness.

I spoke to How Full Is Your Bucket? co-author Tom Rath recently about his new book.

AMA: Your book is based on the principles of positive psychology. What is it and how does it relate to your research?

Tom Roth: For centuries, psychologists have studied what’s wrong with people in terms of trauma, illness, depression and so on. Now they are finally starting to examine the impact of positive events. And they are finding that these small, positive moments can profoundly influence every aspect of our lives.

AMA: Who first came up with the theory of the dipper and the bucket? Isn't it just a rephrasing of “it’s better to give than to receive?”

TR: Not exactly. My grandfather and co-author, Don Clifton, started using this metaphor in the 60s to simplify his research and life’s work for other people. The primary purpose of the metaphor was to illustrate how each and every interaction, whether you're ordering at a fast food restaurant or having a long conversation with a loved one, either adds to, or takes from, one’s bucket of positive emotions.

AMA: Gallup’s research shows that 65% of workers say they received no recognition on the job last year. What impact does that have on the individual worker as well as on an organization as a whole?

TR: It’s huge. On an individual level, lack of recognition makes us miserable in our jobs. At an organizational level, we've seen that giving people recognition decreases turnover and improves customer satisfaction, employee engagement, safety and most importantly, bottom-line productivity.

AMA: Why don't managers praise their workers more often?

TR: One reason is that we simply get caught up in the demands of the day, and another is that the importance of recognition and praise is not clear to most managers and leaders. That’s one reason why we wrote this book.

AMA: A two-part question: What can workers stuck in bucket-draining environments do to improve their situations? And what steps can managers/leaders take to create workplaces more prone to bucket-filling?

TR: Same answer to both questions. They need to start with themselves. The best way to turn things around is to concentrate on eliminating some of the negative emotions in your next few interactions. Then turn your attention to filling others' buckets and watch what happens. Positive emotions are very contagious. And leaders are in a unique position to infuse positive emotions into an entire organization. One powerful leadership strategy is to catch people doing things in an excellent manner and then call attention to what they are doing right.

AMA: Most organizations have some kind of reward and recognition program. Why aren't they working?

TR: Because the programs are not individualized. What motivates me is very unlikely to motivate the next person. Unless recognition and reward is tailored to the person’s unique preferences, it will not work.

Even in organizations that have moved beyond generic “Employee of the Month ” programs, leaders frequently fall into the trap of recognizing others based on the type of recognition they like to receive. Instead, recognition needs to be based on what motivates each employee as an individual.

The key is to simply ask a few questions of the people you work with—do they prefer recognition that is public or private? Who do they want to receive recognition from? What tangible forms of recognition do they like? Armed with this basic knowledge, recognition can work for each and every person.

AMA: I once worked with a woman whose attitude was so overwhelmingly negative that my secret nickname for her was “The Eclipse,” because she seemed to block the sunshine every time she entered a room. How can each of us deal with the “eclipses” in our lives? And how can we safeguard our own buckets against the ravages of bucket dippers?

TR: This is a great story. I love the eclipse analogy. Unfortunately, at one time or another we've probably all worked with people like this. If you try your hardest and still cannot bring a person around, then sometimes your only recourse is to just steer clear of him or her, because otherwise they will being you down with their sinking ship.

AMA: In the book, you recommend “reversing the Golden Rule.” Can you explain?

TR: Yes, the key is to “do unto others as they would have you do unto them.” Instead of recognizing people based on what type of recognition you prefer, make sure it is the type of recognition they want.

AMA: How do you respond to people who say that all this talk of bucket filling is just too “touchy feely” to apply to the workplace—that people are paid to do their jobs and it’s not management’s place to hold their hands and make them feel good?

TR: I know that to some managers, all of this sounds soft. But it is rooted in decades of hard science. Not only is a person with a full bucket very different mentally and physically, but he or she outperforms a person with an empty bucket every single time.

Special Bonus: How much of a “bucket filler” are you? Click here to take a self-assessment to find out.

Learn more about how to recognize and reward employees at these AMA Seminars:

• How to Build, Communicate and Execute a Total Rewards Program
• Motivating for Results

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