When employees can’t rely on their own team for support
July 21, 2011
In a recent post, Chris Guillebeau – author of The Art of Non-Conformity and one of my favourite bloggers, talks about how people closest to you can sometimes leave you feeling dejected with their less-than-enthusiastic reaction to an idea or project that means the world to you.
But lo and behold, just as you’re questioning yourself and whether you should just give up, you’re totally surprised by people you barely paid attention to before who come out of left field to praise your idea. They explain how your innovation or hard work is making life so much better for them and tell you how much they appreciate your dedication and selflessness.
Wow! Not only do you feel appreciated, refreshed and energized, you now feel a responsibility towards your new fans to keep going, work harder and be worthy of their praise. You immediately re-engage, and bask on cloud nine for a while.
This scenario also happens at work where – for whatever reason – an employee may not always get the support that she needs from her manager or teammates. Fortunately for her and for the organization, fans will emerge from other teams or departments with messages of appreciation that raise her spirits and bolster her level of engagement.
That’s the beauty of an employee recognition program that is fully social and open to everyone in the organization. When some people won’t step up, others will step in to save the day.
Quick Employee Recognition is Better? Says Who?
June 29, 2011
I have a bone to pick with whoever started the trend that focuses on quick recognition. It seems entirely counter intuitive to say and promote that quick recognition from peers or managers is the way to go.
Sure, everyone is busy these days, I understand. But, when you have an opportunity to communicate your appreciation for a colleague or employee’s success, is less really more? Will that deserving individual really feel great about what they’ve accomplished when they read your note featuring 144 characters or less?
Please don’t get me wrong, all forms of recognition are good. What I’m saying is that employee recognition becomes incredibly valuable when you create meaningful stories. Stories that let your employees shine. Stories that truly communicate what it means to be a dedicated, hard-working, goal-achieving member of your team.
The recognition message certainly does not need to resemble an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story; simple additions and a bit of extra thought will do wonders.
The next time you prepare to recognize a member of your team, try this: take an additional 5 minutes to consider how their accomplishment has helped your team and your clients, how they’ve demonstrated your company’s values, and how they have contributed to the company’s ultimate goals. Think about the steps they’ve taken and the obstacles they’ve overcome to get there. Sure, it will take a few more minutes, but the outcome will be worth it.
Write a story, share it, and see how great it feels for the recipient, yourself and your entire team. Be proud of all successes, big or small; they truly are worth celebrating.
Employee recognition: Are you doing it wrong?
March 7, 2011
Many companies (including vendors) don’t distinguish between rewarding and recognizing. The difference though is vital to the success or failure of your Employee Recognition Program. So what is the difference and how much does it matter? Let’s compare.
Recognizing is all about the story. It’s defining values and celebrating (ideally, in front of your entire company) individuals or teams that put them into practice. You see, it’s all about context. It’s letting your employees know what you believe in, and sharing the real-life stories of the heroes that have gone beyond the call of duty and lived by those values. When everyone sees that these stories are celebrated, they are more likely to understand and become part of your corporate culture.
On the other hand, receiving a gift, having a pizza party, or getting a plaque are all ways of being rewarded. There is no doubt that people love to be rewarded as well, but the emphasis shouldn’t be on the reward. You don’t want a culture where rewards are what spur your teams on to do more; you want them to do it because it’s ingrained in your culture. It’s your foundation. Your employees know that it’s what sets you apart from your competition. It’s those values that your business lives by, and that keep your customers coming back.
Are you using recognition to create a culture of value in your organization, or are you just dangling carrots in front of your employees? The difference does matter… a lot!
Most Years of Service Programs are Meaningless
February 26, 2011
Yes, you read right. Most Years of Service celebrations have very little meaning, for the employee and for the organization. They are referred to as Recognition Programs but in reality, they don’t recognize much other than the fact that the employee has stuck around for another five years. They are impersonal and hollow. Everyone gets the same speech and same treatment.
Harsh? Maybe, but see if you recognize this typical event:
The long-time employees get a nice certificate, a plaque and/or trophy, maybe a nice gift (or points to choose their own), hopefully during a special ceremony in front of their peers. At least the CEO rehearsed to make sure he gets each name right. Big bucks are spent on the event. Great photo op for the upcoming newsletter. Thanks for staying at this job for so long!
It’s better than a certificate in the mail (!) but it still leaves the celebrated employee feeling a little disappointed – even disillusioned about how much her employer really cares about her hard work during all these years. Did anyone even notice?
Contrast that with a celebration where the CEO, before she hands out the certificate, regales the audience with real stories of some of the employee’s accomplishments over the years, and talks of the impact she’s made on customers, colleagues and shareholder value.
The good news is that an increasing number of organizations are expanding their recognition programs to include everyday appreciation, which in turn can turbo-charge their Years of Service celebrations. Here’s how:
A well-planned, well-executed recognition program will involve everyone and encourage frequent activity, with employees providing detailed information about the reason for the recognition, hopefully relating back to the company’s core values. A solid online management system will track and save all of these positive stories and make them easily retrievable at any time.
Now, the smart organization has many, many success stories to draw from when celebrating an employee’s special milestone.
How much more rewarding to the employee and to the organization when the CEO publicly affirms how much the organization has benefited from the employee’s engagement, and how she embodies their core values?
Personal. Meaningful. Inspiring.
Is this how your employees would describe your company’s Milestone celebrations?
Can’t Buy Me Love: Points Not Required in Successful Employee Recognition Programs
September 19, 2010
I recently heard that a rewards & recognition company hosts annual Customer Appreciation events to celebrate the organizations that give out the most points in the year. I kid you not.
Given that they derive their revenues from the sale of points, they may as well call it: Everyone, let’s applaud the client that gives us the most money!
A truly successful recognition program has little to do with the number of points given out. In fact, some of our clients don’t even include point awards and yet, their employees are very much engaged in their program. No cash, no stuff. Just pure praise for deserving everyday heroes.
We prefer to define success as high participation levels (not number of logins but active participation), increases in enthusiasm, positivity, ideas, contribution, peer mentoring, and of course, employee retention.
Simply put: More bright eyes and bushy tails around the workplace.
Don’t get me wrong: marks of appreciation – whether points, special gifts, donations or events can be an important part of a complete program and are much appreciated by the recipients. They just shouldn’t be the focus. In fact, sometimes it’s better to not include points. I’ll give examples in a future post.
Wild or Free-Range Millennials
March 6, 2010
We the many, tech savvy, aspiring prodigies coded “Millennials” want much in life, this I will concede. We know that we CAN do great things. We HAVE been brought up to feel like the world is our playground and that borders do not exist when it comes to accomplishing whatever our minds and hearts desire, sure.
The reality is, in my young eyes, we were brought up by a generation of great parents. They showed us the ropes and sent us on our way with many great advantages. But now what? Is success going to appear magically like that shiny minivan after football practice or the clean clothes in our dressers? Doubtful.
If you want to get the most out of the Millennials within your workforce, they’re going to need some help, though they probably won’t ask for it. I’m not suggesting that every organization needs a mentorship program, they are quite valuable however. We need someone to set us in the right direction, to guide us throughout, someone who will let us make mistakes so that we can appreciate and feel proud of the successes that will come. Clear goals, instant feedback, correction or acknowledgement, rinse and repeat.
As we mature, we kids are beginning to understand the value of experience and we invite you to share what you’ve learned along the way. Who knows, we might invite you into the beautiful world we’ve been told about when we get there, and we WILL get there!
If carrots are not always effective, then what is?
February 11, 2010
Ownership.
According to Bennet Simonton, author of “Leading People to be Highly Motivated and Committed”
Increasing financial rewards may motivate a few employees to produce more, but rarely can these rewards be significant enough to cause more than a very few to become “highly motivated and committed”. Carrots and sticks constitute influences that provide consequences for employees to evaluate, but they are not effective in creating a “highly motivated” workforce.
Then what is effective?
The answer is to allow employees to develop a strong sense of ownership of their work.
To understand this, look at the lifespan difference between rental cars that drivers don’t own and the cars they do own.
Rental cars rarely last much beyond 2 years while cars individually owned last for 10, 20 and even more years. Have you ever seen anyone washing a rental car? And don’t ignore the difference in treatment received by an expensive sports car as compared to very inexpensive clunker.
Everyone is willing to apply themselves most diligently to something which they own, but far less so if that something is owned by someone else. They will take great pride in making it “shine” if they own it, but not so if they don’t. This is human nature.
Therefore, if employees “feel” a strong sense of ownership of their work, they will become highly motivated to do the very best work they can and will be up to 5 times more productive than if poorly motivated.
I encourage you to read the entire article here.
