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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It’s time to let you in on a secret I have known for over twenty years.
When I started my business doing consulting and training around recognition practices and programs, I thought I would find all the organizations that had no recognition going on and save the world. It was a poor marketing strategy and no one from those organizations ever hired me.
The interesting thing was it was always organizations that were doing recognition that hired me.
It was always the same trigger that brought me in. Organizational leaders would call up whenever their employee engagement surveys came back and showed low scores for the statements or questions related to employee recognition.
What was the disconnect? Why was it that their employee scores on the recognition questions were so low?
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Designing and developing recognition programs take a lot of thought, planning, and creativity.
The best way I can recommend beginning is to consider the distinct programs falling under a pyramid. And like building most structures, the foundation is critical because it holds everything built on top of it.
That’s why you build your recognition programs from the bottom up.
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You must always remember one principle of recognition, and that is your organizational culture will drive recognition practices and recognition programs throughout your organization.
In like manner, it is the organization’s customary recognition practices and exemplary usage of your recognition programs that will drive your organizational culture.
No wonder so many organizations gear up their recognition programs to focus on recognizing people who live their values.
Look at the various ways in which you can tie recognition practices and programs to your organizational values.
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Most organizations have a formal award programs that are their pinnacle of excellence for all their employees to aspire to.
You might have these kinds of formal programs where you work, too. They’re often called by a prestigious leadership position the company wants to associate with the award. You’ll hear awards named the President’s Award, Chairman’s or CEO’s Award. Or they may go for a more branded name appeal such as Bravo Award, Excellence Award, or Pinnacle Award.
Both position title or brand named awards, are usually appended with various award categories the company wants people to focus on. They attach qualities or values like Leadership, Innovation, Customer Service, or Citizenship, etc. to the award name.
But for all the time, effort, and energy put into these formal award programs you are likely only awarding around 1% to 2% of your employee base. In larger organizations this percentage is even less.
What can you do to elevate the quality of your existing formal award programs?
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What must you do when you present awards at an awards ceremony?
Presenting your company’s awards at an awards ceremony can be a nerve racking and terrifying experience. This can feel especially so if you’ve never hosted an awards event before.
There could be hundreds of people watching you. One major mistake and you’ll see the gossip spread for days about your poor performance.
You know you need to master the art of presenting your awards. Here are a few pointers to keep in mind. (more…)
When employees go above and beyond in the workplace it stands out.
It’s noticeable. Exceptional. And it should be celebrated.
That is why managers need to understand the importance of recognizing employees for going above and beyond.
Why should you establish an above and beyond category to your existing recognition award programs? What are the benefits of doing so? (more…)
Having read and watched the media reports from the 90th Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Oscars Awards, it reminded me that being nominated for an award is a pretty big deal.
You may know the Academy is an invitation-only membership of directors and actors. These two groups of 7,258 voting members are the ones who vote and decide upon the winners from their respective branches.
Being nominated by one’s peers means a lot to those who are nominated.
What can we learn from this annual Oscars award event about the importance of being nominated for an award? (more…)
I was recently in a meeting with an organization who wanted to design a formal awards program and I think they were surprised with the additional insights I brought to the table that they hadn’t considered before.
I will outline a few of the critical elements needed for creating an effective formal awards program. These areas will be covered under five broad steps that entail quite a bit of work for each one.
Each of these steps will help you whether a manually administered awards program or one simplified through technology. (more…)
Over three-quarters of surveyed companies have some form of best-of-the-best or above-and-beyond formal recognition award program going on.
This is great for those employees who seem to excel and shine at everything they do. They end up enjoying the celebratory experience at the annual awards event.
But what about employees who don’t get an award?
Award programs can appear to create an exclusivity that pits one person winning over and above their fellow employees.
So how do peers perceive formal award winners? What are the benefits for companies of doing formal awards when so few employees actually end up receiving them?
I am going to explore this topic through the lens of some recent academic research I discovered this week.
Spoiler alert: The outcome is positive as the title of this post implies.
Let’s dig in! (more…)