Recognition program metrics are old news by the time you get them.
And that “old news” element makes these numbers from the past called lagging indicators. They are a lagging indicator because we observe these measures after, or lagging after, any change has occurred.
These lagging indicators create a conflict for you as the recognition program owner. Outcome measures from your programs are easy to measure. But you can’t do much to change them once you get them.
My recommendation is to supercharge your programs by using leading indicators as well.
Implementing the Recognition Plan for Successful Impact
Many consultants enter organizations prepared to tell the leaders where they are failing in the area of the consultant’s expertise.
The process I have taught you over our four-part treatise on How to Create a Recognition Strategy, headlined the need for you to identify your own recognition strengths and weaknesses before starting the strategy piece.
If you have followed along so far, you will know the importance of crafting a Recognition Purpose and Philosophy statements. Following your assessment of recognition practices and programs you have everything you need to design a complete Recognition Plan to elevate recognition practices and programs in your organization.
That is often where consultants exit the scene. You have a plan with goals set and tactical objectives to make things happen. But then they leave you. And often things sputter out or nothing happens at all.
If there is one thing, I think is essential with a recognition project like this, is to provide you with the tools to implement the plan. Let’s get it off the paper and into action. Focus on moving into the implementation phase.
One of the
questions I am often asked when it comes to rewards is what to reward people
with as well as when are you supposed to give those rewards.
It’s important
to remember that rewards can be tangible, monetary, or experiential in nature.
This opens the door to all kinds of creative options and ideas for what to give
to people or give them access to choose.
And broadly you
give rewards to individuals or teams whenever they reach pre-set goals, a
significant achievement, or a special service was performed.
Now let’s dig a
little deeper so you can better understand these elements.
I have seen
where after a poor performance on the recognition measures of a recent employee
engagement survey that the CEO tells all the leaders and managers to go out
there and give more recognition to people.
You can probably
guess why the senior leader asked them to do that. The reason was to
improve the recognition scores on the next engagement survey.
This mandate
from on high doesn’t work.
Giving more
recognition to the people you work with for the sake of the numbers is not why
you want to recognize others more.
It is not about
numbers and measuring the occurrence of recognition. It is about giving
recognition more purposefully.
It is essential for you to know your recognition program data so you can understand how to use this data to leverage the results for elevating your performance and people metrics.
Too often I get asked about best practices in various aspects of recognition practices and programs. The problem is, whenever I see a best practice it likely took the professionals in that company 2 or 3 years to get where they are today.
For you to simply copy what they are doing right now immediately puts you behind the times the minute you start to do what they are doing.
So don’t compare yourself too closely with your competitors or other industry leaders.
I am going to take you on a reality check regarding your recognition program metrics. Then we’ll see what we can do with the numbers. (more…)
I am constantly researching information to better understand employee recognition and how I can better help you with these insights.
I recently stumbled upon some great information about analytics and how it applies to recognition and I want to summarize it for you. Nothing mathematical or statistics oriented – so don’t worry!
The information I found was from Gartner. They are an amazing information technology research and advisory company. Always be on the lookout for their reports, press releases, etc., for incredible findings and future trends.
If you’re like me I was never good at statistics and barely passed the course in my second year of university.
But when I found these descriptions of the different kinds of analytics it was so simple and understandable I just had to pass it along to you. (more…)
Setting up and implementing a rewards program doesn’t necessarily lead to instant success unless it’s done the right way.
Below are the Top 10 Mistakes leaders, recognition administrators and practitioners can sometimes make when designing and implementing the various employee rewards programs in their companies.
Recently I was asked, how do you create an effective rewards [and recognition] program in a decentralized organization?
I am going to share my thoughts on what it takes to grow healthy decentralized recognition programs.
Think of your recognition platform as a magnificent oak tree that will likely grow eighty feet tall and spread out over eighty feet as well. Your recognition platform should cover your entire organization. (more…)
