Keep your eyes wide open for those unique gift items that fit a person’s interests perfectly. Or you might find a gift or knick-knack that is associated with the positive actions the person displayed, their wonderful attitude, or the achievement you want to recognize. These items are like finding recognition gold!
You may have seen it or even been the recipient of it, but sometimes leaders can cause incredible havoc when they give critical feedback especially when done in a demeaning and damaging way.
And when this comes from a leader, somehow their position and the perceived emotional and societal weight of that negative performance review comes down with even greater force.
I also think it is important to separate out feedback from giving recognition.
Recognition is any thought, word or deed towards making some feel appreciated and valued for who they are as well as recognized for the things they do.
The whole intent behind recognition is to value people and their work.
Feedback contrasts with recognition in that its core purpose is to help people improve performance rather than simply acknowledge it.
Consider the following 5 points on how leaders and managers can improve their own feedback giving to people. (more…)
Many research polls show one of the highest reasons for leaving a place of employment is a lack of recognition for workplace contributions.
You’ll find most organizations are doing something with recognition whether through programs or encouraging people to say “Thank You” more.
But they can still come up short when employees give their feedback on recognition when they’ve responded to the latest employee engagement survey.
What I want to do is give you a simple tool to help you identify if something is missing from making your recognition initiatives successful.
You can learn to solve the challenges in your organization’s approach to giving people effective recognition, by looking at The 3 Essential Factors for giving Real Recognition(TM).
Understanding these factors will provide you with insights as to where your own organization is at in appreciating the work and worth of your employees.
What are these factors? As shown in Figure 1, they consist of Values, Skills and Awareness. (more…)
If you’ve been running recognition programs and initiatives for a while, you have likely encountered the inquisitive, cynical, or perhaps challenging leader who throws down the ROI gauntlet for you to “prove” recognition is contributing to the bottom line.
My recommendation is to be careful about jumping too quickly or focusing solely on the money-sided ROI. Make sure you examine both below and above the bottom line to more easily convert recognition into an investment versus an expense.
Yes, there is a lot more to ROI than meets the eye, which is why we will examine ROI to the power of three. It’s much more than being financial.
You need to look at other returns that can come from recognition. (more…)
Make time to get out and catch people doing things right and acknowledge them for what they are doing. Or simply follow through on email or verbal reports passed along to you of great performers and commend them right away. Create a network of recognition champions who become your recognition “field agents” helping you capture positive behaviours worthy of your immediate recognition. Put a small time block in your calendar, each day where possible, and pause and think who should be thanked or recognized that you might have missed. Great acts sometimes require a little planning.
Do you ever wonder why some employees just don’t feel appreciated for all the great things they are doing?
Perhaps it is because the expressions of recognition they receive are not done with meaningful intent.
You know…we’ve all heard the generic and routine phrases of, “Good job!” or “Well done!” spouted out like automatic speech around us.
I picked up on this idea of “intent” the one day when my wife and I gave our car a hand wash in our driveway. She was spraying the car down before we soaped it up. (more…)
| Date: | May 15, 2017 |
|---|---|
| Appearance: | Top 10 Ways Leaders Get In the Way of Recognition |
| Outlet: | Incentive Magazine |
| Format: | Magazine |
| Date: | May 12, 2017 |
|---|---|
| Appearance: | Why Introverts Also Make Great Leaders |
| Outlet: | Training Magazine |
| Format: | Magazine |
There is a lot that can go into writing a recognition strategy so I thought I would outline some of the structural elements that you can draw upon to create a complete recognition strategy.
In my Recognition Strategy Model® approach to facilitating a written Recognition Strategy, I am a firm believer in formulating a Recognition Purpose and Recognition Philosophy statements.
I feel these become the North Star for leaders and employees to look at, understand immediately what they mean, and guide your recognition practices, rituals and programs.
So let’s take a look at the many components you may choose to include in crafting your organization’s Recognition Strategy. (more…)
Maybe you’ve seen what I have seen over 20+ years of trying to help many companies get their employee recognition right.
Often I am dealing with managers in the middle – typically from Human Resources – who understand the importance of employee recognition and are trying desperately to rectify low recognition scores reported by their employees on the latest employee engagement survey.
Even their director knows they need to improve this engagement line, which has been doing poorly for the past few years.
The problem is with the most senior leader.
It can be chief executive officer, president, or chief administrator – whatever the title and whoever the person is at the very top.
They just don’t get it. (more…)