The Beauty and The Beast of Recognition Part 1 of 3

This month has been loaded with posts about developing your personal and professional self - especially with regard to leading others. And I know that one of the most over-looked, under-developed and under-utilized areas of leading is the ability to effectively recognize and reward team members. (The best part of this practice is that it works as well in your personal life with kids, other family members, committees you work with, etc. as it does in your professional world).

The Beauty and The Beast of Recognition

Can you recall the greatest recognition you ever received? Maybe it was in a work situation, possibly at home or for a volunteer effort? Was it money? If it was, do you even recall the amount? Most likely, you do not.

In leadership classes when I’ve asked this question, people cannot recall a check amount, but they do cite specific acknowledgements they received – they remember something personal that called attention to their unique accomplishment. And they were most appreciative of the recognition – they remember it for a long time.

Today, if you ask some one what they’d LIKE to receive as recognition, the first thing they’ll say is “Money” and they mean it. No problem. But that isn’t always an option is it? Great to hand out checks, but funds aren’t unlimited in most places, so you have to get creative about the kinds of recognition you provide.

Let's start with the purpose behind recognizing someone.

Ideally, recognition is not something reserved just for unusual or big achievements. It’s day-to-day; it's a way to acknowledge the value of each person as a unique contribution to the business/committee/community/team, etc.

What Is Recognition Supposed to Do?

This is The BEAUTY of Recognition because it should...

Acknowledge the contributions and special efforts made by individuals, teams, groups - call out what's unique or above the standard

Reinforce the those work behaviors you want to see more of; teamwork, attention to customers, innovation, etc

Create a positive work environment - and that adds to team member job satisfaction (which is notoriously low if measured)

Enhance your team members' sense of value to the organization

All excellent reasons for taking the opportunity to recognize a team member or a group of team members.

On the flop side, I’ve seen people react very negatively to recognition- why would that be? Often because of the way the recognition is handled.

This is The BEAST of Recognition because sometimes...
(Think about these effects at HOME and at WORK)

The same person gets recognized repeatedly until it seems no one else has a chance of ever being recognized.

Someone so shy that he/she is embarrassed by a public presentation of an award.

An award is given that was excessive to the accomplishment.

Steady, constant, dependable and reliable work is overlooked for a splashy performance from another team member.

Recognition is distributed so that every team member gets recognized over the course of a year and it just looks  like the “expected” reward that everyone would eventually receive – nothing special.

These can all become such negative factors in recognition that many managers would prefer to leave it alone or handle it in a perfunctory manner – they just get too many complaints; they don’t have a good program in place to provide meaningful recognition.

One of the purposes of recognition is to create a positive work environment. A well-designed and delivered recognition process can help that a lot. On the other hand, a poorly handled recognition program will create more dissatisfaction than no program at all!

Question for You: Have you seen particularly effective or ineffective recognition programs and what have been the effects?

Strong Relationships + Solid Leadership = Success for Everyone