Wisdom on What Not to Do

Last week we looked at various attributes of recognition done well. This week will be a few examples of what recognition is not.

First up, Paul Hebert over at Incentive Intelligence and the i2i blog recently posted a couple of interesting ideas on this topic. First, in a post on the differences between incentives and recognition, Paul made this point:

“Incentive programs do NOT provide motivation. Incentive programs provide direction. Incentive programs provide employees with clues to what you as the sponsor think they should be working on/toward.”

This is an important distinction. Well designed incentives programs can certainly provide clarity for those participating in them on precisely what their short-term goal is. Conversely, after-the-fact recognition can provide direction on long-term objectives by reinforcing those actions or behaviors that help achieve strategic objectives. In this way, recognition can also be a motivator by acknowledging mastery of skills along the way.

In another post on why some programs fail, Paul accurately identifies program design as at fault, not the audience. Just two of the reasons for failure he points out are:

“Energized Chaos: Lack of alignment - if there are ten incentives all pushing in different directions your audience can't figure out which to do first or which to do at all.

“Energized Greed: If the program structure is too rich for the behavior required you will get huge effort but many unintended consequences - don't give people too much incentive for something - they will do it - any way they can.”

As I pointed out in a comment to that post, these are also key differentiators of truly strategic recognition efforts. When you do recognition right, you align employee behaviors and actions with your objectives, but only within the context of your company values. Otherwise, you end up with an Enron situation – people certainly achieving and surpassing goals for company success, but definitely outside of the stated company values (in Enron’s case, the value of Integrity).

A Challenge: Make a “Recognition Resolution” on Employee Appreciation Day

In an effort to encourage appreciation of employees, Recognition Professionals International created Employee Appreciation Day as a day to focus attention on the efforts of all employees, in all industries and thank them for their work.

This isn’t enough. We know strategic recognition works in increasing employee engagement, productivity and loyalty. So what are you waiting for? One day a year where you better not forget to say thank you?

As I said in this news release, today should not be just a one-day celebration. Rather, today should be a wake-up call to make a commitment to recognize and appreciate employees year-round and see firsthand the impact that a recognition strategy can have on business results.

What’s your excuse for not yet actioning a strategic recognition program that can boost employee engagement by 10-15% in one year?

I’m issuing a challenge: yes, show your employees how much you appreciate them today, but also resolve to make recognition part of your every day going forward. Why is this important? Just ask those around you how a sign of appreciation and thanks made an impact on them.

In fact, that’s part of my challenge. Share your inspirational stories of employee recognition experiences with us to help others see the dramatic power of recognition in the workforce. Some ideas:

• How a particular recognition moment made a personal impact
• How the use of a recognition system helped engage employees and change a company’s culture
• How recognizing an employee changed the perspective of a manager
• Recognition examples that differ from one country to another
• An inspirational employee recognition story that demonstrates the power of appreciation
• A company’s or individual manager’s commitment to meeting Globoforce’s challenge of making a “recognition resolution” and how the goal will be accomplished

Tell me your story here in comments, or post on Globoforce’s Facebook page as well as on Twitter. Tweets should contain the following official hash tags: #recognitionstory #EAD2010 (in honor of Employee Appreciation Day)

Recognition Best Practices

Judith M. Bardwick, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Diego, recently posted to the Huffington Post the transcript of her interview with literary critic Robert Morris on employee recognition. Judith hits on four best practices of strategic recognition: be timely, be specific, be meaningful and be personal.

“I find the most effective forms of recognition are personal and either spontaneous or very close in time to a significant accomplishment. … Whether literally or symbolically, say thanks! and in a timely fashion. … What's necessary is exquisitely simple: in one way or another, express your gratitude meaningfully and personally for what someone has done and your real pleasure in having them around. … An easy and very effective sign of appreciation, for example, is a letter from someone's boss -- or that person's boss -- signaling appreciation for very specific accomplishments. In itself, that's effective. It's even more effective when, for example, flowers are sent to that person's family thanking the family for their generous gift of that person's time.”

I only have one quibble with Judith’s advice. Instead of choosing the gift for the person, let them make the most meaningful selection for themselves and, potentially, their family. Certainly acknowledge in your expression of recognition that you are aware of the sacrifices made on the home-front, but let the recipient choose what would be truly meaningful or appropriate. Otherwise, you risk an expensive and needless mistake.

Judith also talks about what to do if you work for a “toxic leader.” Her advice? Quit. So all of you leaders out there who justify keeping toxic managers on staff for other skills or talents they may bring, realize that you are killing the loyalty of those who report to the toxic manager and encouraging them to leave.

Creating a Happiness Machine in Your Workplace

This week I’m focusing on methods and best practices for doing recognition right.

Have you ever playfully done the unexpected at work in an effort to appreciate, encourage or inspire team members? How about to just make them laugh or look at the commonplace in an entirely new way? See how Coca-Cola did just that with their “Happiness Machine.”



I originally saw this video on Tanveer Naseer’s blog and, while I thought the video was fun and interesting, I was much more impressed with Tanveer’s insights:

“While it’s common practice for businesses to offer incentives for employees to take on a new task or assignment, it’s sadly a rare occurrence for leaders to offer praise or appreciation to employees for their own initiatives or efforts. In other words, instead of simply thinking one’s role is to evaluate and judge the performance of others, leaders need to understand the importance of validating what their employees see as their contribution to the company.

“As before, this doesn’t require any huge effort or expense for companies. It could be something as simple as taking the time to stop by an employee’s desk after a meeting and thanking them in person for the contributions/insights they provided to the discussion. Or perhaps writing a personal note of thanks to an employee for the initiatives they undertook on a recent project, leaving it in their cubbyhole as an unexpected surprise in their day (a perfect tie-in to the first point made above).”

Keying of just one of the many important points Tanveer makes, do you only sit in judgment of those who work for you, or do you also validate them for their contributions to the company? Perhaps more importantly, do you help gain a vision and understanding of precisely how they contribute to the company’s success? So few employees know this at a level such that they can make it real in their daily tasks. The most effective way of achieving that goal is through such strategic recognition, and thereby validation, of their efforts.