What Are Some of The Best Ways To Express Recognition?

A webinar attendee asked me this week about the best way to express recognition to someone. Were there any great examples of recognition I had heard? They asked what I would recommend that people say to give more meaningful recognition. 

What I attempted to tell this person was to stick to the principles behind giving amazing recognition and not to script out what to say or write. 

I’ll share with you some key ideas about this concept.

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Top 10 Ways to Give Better Recognition Than Anyone Else

Imagine if each person gave recognition just one percent better than the last time that they recognized someone. That’s all it takes to enhance your recognition practices and optimize the usage of your recognition programs. One percent improvement is all it takes. And here are some ways for you to give better recognition than anyone else every day. 

  1. Start your workday off by sending out or giving a thought of gratitude. Even if it is only one person you communicate with, imagine the difference you will make. Don’t open up your email inbox until you have emailed a message or spoken gratitude to someone.
  2. Actively smile whenever you greet someone and especially when you recognize them. Whether face-to-face or virtually through the various video conference tools, a smile engages people and sends positive, emotional, non-verbal communication.
  3. Ensure you make eye contact with people you express recognition to. When two people make eye contact when communicating, their brains actually synchronize emotional brainwaves and it enhances the receptiveness to what they said.
  4. Be enthusiastic and use a positive tone of voice when verbally recognizing others. A positive tone of voice conveys the words communicated in a healthier and better way. Work to be more excited about the recognition you give, and people will feel it.
  5. Use the person’s name in the text boxes of your online recognition programs. It is easy to neglect using a person’s name in an online program because you have selected who the message or ecard is going to. But people read the message in the box, so use it.
  6. In text, writing, or speech, tell people specifically what you’re recognizing them for. Refrain from using the too short and sweet generic statements with your recognition. Tell them exactly what it was you noticed that impressed you. They really want to know.
  7. In the same manner, be specific about how the person’s actions impacted others. Too often people do not know how their positive actions affected others. Share the impact their behaviors had on a peer, a customer, their boss, or for the company.
  8. Work on using positive vocabulary versus neutral words when recognizing people. Stop using words like, “good job” or “well done.” The words “good” and “well” are neutral. And being more specific, eliminates “job,” and “done”. Get more creative. Be amazing!
  9. Leave a voice mail message for someone expressing your thanks for their work. Try after hours to leave a voice mail message expressing your appreciation for the work an employee has done. It may surprise you how long people keep these messages and replay them.
  10. Write a well written thank-you card or note to recognize people each day. If you write one card or note a day to any employee in the organization who has affected you, you will make a tremendous difference. Those cards become keepers, and people often reread them.

Roy is no longer writing new content for this site (he has retired!), but you can subscribe to Engage2Excel’s blog as Engage2Excel will be taking Roy’s place writing about similar topics on employee recognition and retention, leadership and strategy.

Choose Your Words with Extra Care When Recognizing People

Giving people recognition is not hard to do. But recognizing those you meet and work with should not be treated so glibly that it is thoughtlessly done.

The words you use to verbally express your appreciation or use in your written or digital thank you notes, need to be done with care and consideration. Put more time into thinking about what you will say and realize the impact it will have on people.

Examine the following ideas closely to pick up on ways your vocabulary choice and phrasing of recognition could change.

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Why Being Specific Increases the Value of Recognition

I had just read marketing author, Seth Godin’s blog post, in which he concluded with the line – “Specific can be its own reward”. And I wholeheartedly agree.

Being specific in your expressions of recognition and praise can be a rewarding experience for the recipient. Which is why I want to emphasize the need for this recognition principle to be taught to your managers and employees.

My goal is to encourage you to help those you lead be specific or become more specific with their recognition expressions. (more…)

Use Your Recognition Programs the Right Way, Right Now!

Being unable to get their company’s managers to consistently and correctly use their online recognition programs often frustrates most owners and managers of employee recognition programs.

Yet, there’s an interesting irony to this problem when you ask yourself, how often have we involved managers in the design of our recognition programs? We can eliminate many of our problems if make our programs more manager and employee-centric and give them a positive user experience. (more…)

What’s Your Intention When You Recognize Someone?

Do you ever wonder why some employees just don’t feel appreciated for all the great things they are doing?

Perhaps it is because the expressions of recognition they receive are not done with meaningful intent.

You know…we’ve all heard the generic and routine phrases of, “Good job!” or “Well done!” spouted out like automatic speech around us.

I picked up on this idea of “intent” the one day when my wife and I gave our car a hand wash in our driveway. She was spraying the car down before we soaped it up. (more…)

How To Be Full of Compliments

Well, here it is again!

March 1st is World Compliment Day – a simple reminder on the calendar to encourage you and I to be more mindful of giving people compliments.

Mark Twain made the act of giving compliments famous when he said, “I can live for two months on a good compliment.”

Yet many of us need more than a calendar reminder or a quote from a writer and humorist to spur us on with compliment giving.

With so many great things going on and so many wonderful people to learn from, live and love, you would think we all would be full of compliments.

Seems this is not always the case though. So I am going to help you discover how you can be full of compliments to hand out as needed. (more…)

5 Things Your Boss Needs To Know About Recognition

Each manager, supervisor, or business owner comes with their own unique set of interpersonal skills, along with strengths and weaknesses. This is especially so when it comes to giving meaningful and effective recognition.

You’ve likely had a boss or two who understood the importance of acknowledging your work. You had a positive relationship with them. Work seemed to go well and you felt engaged. You knew you were making a positive difference.

Not So Good Managers

Then again, you’ve probably bumped into at least one or two supervisors or had managers along your career path who plain didn’t get it. (more…)

How To Overcome Your Fear of Giving Recognition

If you’ve rarely received positive feedback or expressions of affection from your family growing up, then you may have a hard time giving recognition in the workplace.

Or perhaps you were not the most stellar athlete at school and did not have top academic marks warranting any special awards.

When you haven’t received much recognition as a child, youth or young adult, you can easily lack confidence in acknowledging and praising those you work with.

That’s when giving people recognition ends up as another item on the “To Do” list that never gets done.

You can almost fear giving people recognition.

Today I will give you some pointers on how you can gain confidence to overcome your fears. I will show you how to give meaningful praise and recognition. (more…)