In the 1960’s and early 1970’s my sister and I helped our mom paste the S&H Greenstamps she got with purchases into little paper booklets. Every few months we’d have enough to go to a special store and redeem booklets for things like cake pans, a new toaster, or cheap jewelry.
The pages in the book looked like this:
The point was to gradually save your stamps and cash ‘em in for the big prize!
Greenstamping is a terrible strategy in relationships and for leadership. Greenstamping is when you continuing collecting all the “little things” that have annoyed you, the small failures and shortcomings, saving them for the “big event” when you unload on the other person. In organizational leadership greenstamping often occurs when someone is suddenly on the defensive, or competing in a zero-sum game for promotion or recognition.
It sounds like this:
“Oh yeah? Well what about the four times I had to remind you to do X that you promised me you’d do, and the broken screen door, and when you forgot our anniversary until the last minute, that time you embarrassed my sister – argghh, she’s still mad about that – and your stupid TV program you just have to watch, and…. and…and… Huh? What about ALL THAT??!!”
(I exaggerate only slightly.)
In relationships and leadership situations, keep short accounts. Overlook offenses, and be quick to forgive those you cannot overlook. Stay future focused. Learn from mistakes.
Our mom stopped collecting green stamps after a while. “Everything you can get with them is at best shiny and cheaply made,” she said. “Not worth the trouble.” Likewise, everything you can gain by greenstamping in relationships will bitterly disappoint.
