PMO – Carrot or Stick?

Have you heard it been said about the PMO that they fall into two camps, carrot or stick?
On last week’s session about the Sponsors and the PMO (full video etc ready soon), it was mention in relation to how the PMO can work with sponsors, and in the picture to the right, that was pulled from a session we did about lessons learnt a while back.
Apart from being able to draw nice pictures of carrots and sticks, what does it really mean?
Ultimately it’s all about punishment-and-reward motivational techniques, just like with children, we reward when they do something they should do and remove privileges when they don’t.
Originally applying to animals, it describes whether to get it to move by enticing the animal with a nice juicy carrot in front of it as a reward, or beating it with a stick. Getting the animal to move is the objective or target, and the carrot and stick are a means of achieving it. BCF Group
Carrot or Stick?
Management is already full of anecdotes about using “carrot and stick” as a means to motivate people, and whilst many think it conjures up a terrible image, you can’t deny that it’s memorable and certainly sparks conversation, debate and ideas. So what does it mean in the PMO context?