Where did I put that carrot?

I've had four separate people I manage tell me this week (and it's still Wednesday) that I've been cracking the whip. But in a meeting this morning my bosses told me that I need to crack it some more.
Fair enough, as I'm not averse to driving people hard, but I need to give them a bit of a positive incentive too. Who's going to provide me with that? Meanwhile I will revert to my sjambok.