What Makes for a Great Nominated Award Program?

It was yesterday when I heard about an organization that had set up a formal award program called their CEO Award. The only problem was this formal award program was being undermined by other leaders and managers. Not very helpful.

Make a nominated formal award program a success right from the get-go. Look at the following factors and see what you can control for to make your award program a great one.

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How To Prevent The Downfall of a Formal Recognition Program

Like the fall of the Galactic Empire in the Star Wars saga, sometimes you have to bring your formal award and recognition programs back to the light side. When any of your formal award programs fall apart, you need to step in quickly and turn things right around. 

Following are a few ways to consider with preventing the downfall of your formal recognition programs. 

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Why Getting A Recognition Award from Your Peers Is Pretty Special

Last week, my colleagues at the IMA Summit Awards Event in Snowbird, Utah, honored me by giving me the Recognition Professionals International’s 2022 Harkins Education Award. 

The RPI Board of Directors gives this award to recognize members who have provided leadership and commitment to RPI’s education initiatives. The Board Executive Committee nominated and approved this behind my back, as I sit on the board as a director.

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Helping Your Recognition Programs To Stand Out From the Crowd

It is wonderful when leaders take the bull by the horns to highlight new initiatives like your recognition programs, perhaps new program features, merging of company recognition platforms, you name it.

Have your president and/or CEO become well versed in describing and explaining the features of the recognition programs. Then have your CHRO reveal your program and demonstrate how you can recognize a colleague.

To have your recognition programs stand out from the crowd, you must have leaders who will lead the way with them.

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Show Me How To Give an Effective Award Presentation

Awards are wonderful things. 

They are the most valuable possessions in the world to the people who receive them. 

Awards straddle between recognition and rewards in that they recognize an individual or team and may include a trophy and a reward. For what we will discuss here, they also provide a means to publicly honor the best of the best either through earned merit, length of service, or through an adjudication of a nomination.  

People will dress up for award events. They may even take the day off to prepare. People look forward to awarding ceremonies for weeks ahead.

You should know by now that award presentations are a big deal and so you had better get them right. Here’s how to prepare to give an effective award presentation. 

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6 Ways Leaders Can Make Your Award Events Shine

I think leaders underestimate the great value employees place in their presence at employee award events. Their genuine charisma and celebrity-like status truly add to employees’ feelings about attending award ceremonies. 

Consider the following pointers that your leaders can do to make award events shine. 

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There’s No Room For Sarcasm When Recognizing People

Sarcasm is also known as verbal irony, and humor often tempers it. It’s a type of speech that has a semantic interpretation opposite to its literal meaning. Too often it is used to say something opposite of what is true, intending to make someone look or feel foolish.

Whatever people say sarcastically should not be taken literally. However, that’s not saying people don’t take it the wrong way. As communication experts will tell you, many people have been on the receiving end of sarcastic comments and it can hurt. 

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