Monthly Archives: October 2020

Posted on

How To Decide Whether To Give Recognition Or Rewards

by

If you have online recognition programs, you’ll likely have your organizational leaders asking you for guidance on when they should give recognition with no monetary reward attached and when should they give a reward.

The point you may have heard me expound upon before is that when you give recognition, you don’t have to give a reward. But whenever you give a person a reward, you must always accompany it with recognition.

Too often people equate recognition as rewards such that when you’re talking about recognition, they only see cash or some reward in their mind. Or if you only give people a written or verbal expression of appreciation, they’re wondering where the reward is.  

It’s a shame when employees think like this, but they didn’t come to this idea on their own. If you set up your programs the wrong way in the first place, they can generate a strong dependence on using rewards versus recognition. 

This still leaves us with the question, how do you decide whether to give recognition to someone or give a reward? Let’s find out what you can do. 

(more…)
Posted on

What Do You Do When You’ve Been Recognized?

by

Take note for a week of the various ways people react after you or others give them recognition, whether in private or in public. It might surprise you the images you capture and the verbal responses you hear.

You might express the recognition face-to-face, remotely through video conferencing applications; in a written email, ecard or paper card; or through text based, audio- or video-messaged greeting on your organization’s recognition programs.  

But how does the recipient respond? 

Many people are uncomfortable being recognized. When you’ve been recognized what do you do? How accepting are you of the recognition? 

(more…)
Posted on

How To Teach Others To Help You Teach Recognition

by

It is hard to teach everyone how to give meaningful and effective recognition to one another, no matter the size of the organization you work for.

That’s why you need to enlist an army of people to aid you. 

Dictionary.com explains that the more helpers you have available to you then the task will be easier. The proverb “many hands make light work” was reportedly first recorded in English in the early 1300s in a knightly romance known as Sir Bevis of Hampton. However, John Heywood, a 16th century writer known for his plays, poems, and collection of proverbs, is most often attributed as the originator of this proverb. 

What can you do to teach other to help you teach people in your organization how to give amazing recognition to one another? 

(more…)
Posted on

What Your Leaders Need To Better Understand Recognition

by

WorldatWork surveyed their members and found that the average organization uses eight separate recognition programs. That’s a lot! 

However, what they don’t state is how well people use those recognition programs, either by leaders or by their employees. The secret to using these programs properly is to help your leaders better understand the value and importance of employee recognition. 

How can you get your leaders on board, and what do they first need to know about employee recognition? 

(more…)
Posted on

How To Plan for Better Recognition for 2021

by

If you want people to give better quality recognition and to have people recognized more frequently than they are now, then you had better plan to transform recognition with a carefully thought out plan, now. 

Your engagement surveys, pulse surveys, focus group feedback, and recognition program data will give you both the qualitative and quantitative read on the state of employee recognition in your organization. 

Your job is to work with the leaders and managers in your organization to define and create the future of employee recognition. It’s time to plan out how you will achieve better recognition for 2021 in your organization. 

(more…)
Posted on

How To Set Up a Committee for Judging Formal Awards

by

Formal recognition programs are often the most common type of programs present in organizations. You find that many organizations invest the most amount of time, money, and resources in their formal recognition programs. 

These more formal programs often have a prestigious name associated with them, such as Excellence Awards, Pinnacle, President’s Awards, or other branded names. These awards are where employees or managers can nominate an individual or a team for a specific award category. 

Awards will vary depending on the industry sector your organization fits under, such as, 

  • Trades and services.
  • Information and Communication Technology.
  • Healthcare and medical.
  • Mining, resources, and energy.
  • Hospitality and Tourism.

The award categories of awards might include going above in beyond in such areas as: 

  • Innovation
  • Leadership
  • Customer Service
  • Quality Improvement
  • Patient Care
  • Health and Safety
  • Sales
  • Organizational Values
  • Teamwork 

The one thing in common with all organizational formal awards, no matter what sector they are from, is the need to have a judging committee. 

And that’s what we are going to talk about today, how to set up a formal judging committee so you can recognize and celebrate the outstanding performers where you work. 

(more…)
Posted on

Know Everything You Can About The People You’re Recognizing

by

When you want to give amazing recognition to people, you must know everything you can about the people you are recognizing. 

Recognition people feel is much more about the person than it ever is about any action on their part. Recognition is more than they do something, then they get something. 

Real recognition is about appreciating the whole person and recognizing them for what they do. 

Recognition is mostly an intangible expression of acknowledgement and valuing of an individual or a team, for their positive behaviours, their personal effort, or contributions they have made. 

The key is making your recognition very personal. Let’s explore how you can do that. 

(more…)
Posted on

How To Use SMS To Remind People To Give Recognition

by

Do your employees feel valued and appreciated for their work contributions? If not, is it because recognition is not top of mind for your leaders and managers? What if you could remind your leaders and managers to recognize more often? Are there ways that technology can help? 

There is a way to nudge your leaders and managers into giving more frequent and better day-to-day recognition to their direct reports, and others. You can create triggers for your leaders and managers to give more meaningful and consistent recognition to people. This will guarantee affecting the overall employee experience and improve performance, too.  

How do you do this? Listen up!

(more…)
Posted on

What It Means To Be An Executive Sponsor of Recognition

by

If you want to get recognition strategically connected to your organization’s business plan, then you are going to need an executive sponsor. Having an executive sponsor is your key to getting recognition on the senior leadership table and raising the profile and impact of employee recognition throughout the organization. 

But what exactly does an Executive Sponsor do? 

Learn about their role, and how they can help you give the boost you need for employee recognition. 

(more…)
Posted on

The Right Balance of Recognition to Reward Programs

by

One of the many challenges in managing a recognition and rewards program is figuring out how to steer the course of your programs to maximum impact. 

And one repeated concern I see is when program owners inherit a program, they call recognition, but it’s been almost a total rewards program. Getting rid of the rewards mindset that triggers entitlement, expectations, and “more please”, is hard to unlearn. 

Providers, compensation and benefits associations, and non-profit business research organizations give good estimates on how much money to spend. They draw upon a percentage of your payroll budget or the average dollar spent per full-time equivalent (FTE) of employees. 

But what’s missing is how much to spend on the different programs. Is there a perfect balance between recognition specific programs and reward type program? How do you advocate budgets based on how people use the different types of programs? 

(more…)