Jeff Craddock is a plant supervisor for Made Right Wood Products Inc., which makes both standardized and customized signs out of solid wood and wood veneers. Over the past few years, the firm has grown steadily and now employs more than 200 people working two shifts. Keeping employees motivated, however, is a constant challenge for both Craddock and production manager Marie Horowitz. Both try hard to apply motivational techniques that they learned in college, encountered in local workshops, and discovered during the course of on-the-job training. Made Right, it seems, has a higher percentage of single parents and older workers than the industry average, and that fact seems to be one of the problems: More workers ask for time off to do things with their children, and older employees visit a lot of doctors. As elsewhere, tardiness and absenteeism also cut into production efficiency. Craddock and Horowitz are once again rethinking possible approaches to employee motivation. When discussing performance with employees, Craddock and Horowitz could avoid a common mistake by providing .