Consistency with recognition giving requires adherence to following the same principles, and exemplary practices in expressing recognition and using online recognition programs towards everyone.
You are looking for uniformity through consistent giving of recognition to all employees throughout the organization.
How on earth does one get more consistent with giving recognition at work? Take a look at these ideas for building in greater consistency.
Giving More Consistent Recognition
Following are several ideas to help you foster consistency with giving well-deserved recognition to others.
Setting some recognition goals. The key to consistency is setting specific, actionable goals and then working every day on achieving them.
Set actionable goals with following simple processes that you will follow on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. For example, your goals might look like these:
Week #1: Make a note of the positive behaviors you see or hear about each day.
Week #2: Send an ecard out to thank, congratulate, or praise someone each day.
Week #3: Learn and use the Two-Part Specificity Rule® with each recognition you give.
Week #4: Come prepared to thank or honor a colleague at your weekly staff meeting.
There are significant benefits from being consistent with recognition giving. First, it becomes so much easier to recognize people. Second, you see the smiles and light shine in people’s eyes after you’ve praised or recognized them. Third, people who are recognized properly love to work for you and continue to do amazing work well.
Ask yourself, why do you want to be consistent with giving recognition? Being purpose driven will go a long way to motivating you to get out there and give more meaningful and effective recognition. Look at the difference it makes to people when you say how proud you are of them or thank them for their help.
Where do you need to improve with your recognition? Start by figuring out how you can be, and want to be, more consistent with recognition. Plan out what you want to do, what you need to learn, the resources or guidance you need, and how you will practice these new skills. Over time, as you become more consistent, you’ll be motivated to keep giving recognition.
What are you capable of with recognition giving? You can only do so much in a day or given week. Pick one thing or area where you want to improve upon with your recognition giving. Don’t set up false expectations to improve all aspects of recognition giving. Perhaps do one practice like looking people in the eye when recognizing them.
Schedule in your recognition giving. If you cannot plan to recognize people, you will plan to fail giving recognition. As the late Stephen R. Covey once said, “Don’t prioritize your schedule, schedule your priorities.” When you make recognition a priority, you will schedule it in. Then, by becoming more adept at regularly recognizing and praising people, you’ll be ready for the spontaneous moments.
Make other things in your life fit around giving recognition. Make your scheduled time to write your few thank-you notes, a non-negotiable activity in your day. Other people will respect the importance you place on your staff and allow you the time to make this recognition happen.
Fight the negative self-talk with positive comeback statements. Ignore the negative voice in your head that says you are no good at giving recognition. Learn to give recognition even when you don’t feel like doing it. Make sure you remind yourself that you are a Real Recognition™ Giver.
Get back up again if you fail with giving recognition. Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day with your recognition goal and activities. It happens to the best of us because that is what life is all about. Say to yourself, “That’s not like me. I can do better. Next time I will.”
Commit yourself to becoming a Real Recognition™ Giver. What will you do each day so you will become a better recognition giver? Giving recognition even just once in a day is better than not recognizing anyone at all. Sometimes it is the daily routine activities we do each day that add up. It is thinking about others every day. It is the accumulation of giving recognition every day that makes you a consistent recognition giver.
It’s also lots of little things to become consistent with recognition. Like saying good morning to people you meet with each day. Or asking how a person is doing and waiting to listen for their response. And it is learning each employee’s proper or preferred name and using it when greeting them. Find out about their family and life at home. Your goal is to get to where with your one-on-ones with staff they will end up telling you how much they appreciate the recognition they receive from you.
Get the help from some buddies for accountability. To truly be consistent with recognition giving you will need some accountability. Ask for a coach or use a buddy-system or even a mastermind group. The ideas for this accountability are so you are not just accountable to yourself. As for using just one peer, I recommend creating a triad buddy-system. Having three people creates a check and balance whereas only two can cause one to be soft on feedback of the other if they didn’t do well.
Using just a couple of these ideas will enable you to become a consistent Real Recognition™ Giver.
Recognition Reflection: What do you do to be more consistent with giving recognition to those you work with?
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