By Maria Elena Duron
It’s no secret that recognizing employees for their hard work has beneficial effects that ripple outward. Yet recognition isn’t the only part of this equation. In fact, recognition by itself is detrimental as employees easily pick up on insincerity, reacting negatively instead.
Many businesses, though, simply don’t understand this, resulting in frustrated companies that can’t figure out why their awards program isn’t fostering a community of happy workers. As it turns out, the answer isn’t as complex as it appears to be.
The missing link
More often than not, the missing piece of a successful recognition equation is appreciation: the subjective aspect of recognition. It's about enjoying the good qualities of employees and the work they do. Without it, objective recognition can seem hollow and merely another job on the to-do list.
Just because you hand out awards doesn’t necessarily mean your employees feel that there’s any meaning behind the recognition. It all comes down to understanding how different employees communicate and perceive your message.
Different strokes
Due to its subjective nature, appreciation means different things to different people. Some may feel appreciated when they receive a gift; others may feel appreciated when they’re recognized in front of a group of people. Still others might feel appreciated when they’re given a surprise day off.
The key is recognizing how each person feels so that your shows of recognition are authentic. Employees want to know that they, as individuals, are legitimately valued--that their work is making a difference for the company itself. You can show you appreciate your employees by doing the following:
Schedule one-on-one time. Arguably one of the best ways to do this, no matter the type of person the employee is, is to schedule a casual meetup for just you and the employee. As coffee shops are welcome places of relaxation and good conversation, many find these locations to be perfect. The atmosphere is calm, the business demeanor is minimized and you can chat about anything.
During your time, make sure to listen to your employee and forge a relationship with them. For almost everyone, receiving your undivided attention is a meaningful enough gesture to really underline just how important they are as individuals.
Recognize individual contributions. A big reason scheduled recognition falls flat is that it never highlights individual contributions--it’s a general celebration of hard work. To counter this, turn every compliment into a specific compliment.
Don’t thank Kathy for being a team player; thank her for covering so many shifts when the flu hit the office. Don’t thank Dan for being a go-getter; thank him for landing those two major sales. The more individualized, the better.
Show them your trust. To the best workers out there, having your trust is absolutely key to showing appreciation. Many can handle their own lives and balance a full work schedule without a problem, so give them the reins to projects they’re overseeing. Let them know that they have total responsibility because you trust they’ll be able to complete the job to your standards. This will give employees a sense of pride in their work as it becomes their work, not one of the boss’s projects that they’ll be briefly mentioned for having a hand in.
However, do remember that sometimes plates can be too full. Only do this if you know the employee won’t feel overwhelmed, otherwise it will be taken negatively instead of positively--namely if the extra work doesn’t come with any raise, recognition, ability to learn a new skill or work closely with new people who can expand their skill set and connections.
Share positive feedback. Remember that if you receive positive feedback about an employee to share it with that employee. Too often we forget about the feedback, feeling pride that we have such a good employee and then immediately move on to other jobs. Your employees need to hear that customers and clients are taking notice of them. It is a source of third party verification that their place within the business is actually making a difference.
Offering feedback can also be extended to the staff itself. Come up with an in-house method for sharing positive feedback anonymously between fellow employees. According to Dr. Paul White, co-author of the The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering Organizations by Encouraging People, authentic appreciation communicated both from leaders and among co-workers leads to a positive, supportive work environment that others will envy.
Maria Elena Duron is Marketing Coach with Know, Like + Ignite. She works with restaurants, realtors, rejuvenators, and renegades to get more positive reviews, recommendations, referrals, and revenue. She received the Texas Governor’s Award for Excellence in Business and leads one of the top six Twitter chats in the world: #brandchat. Take the uncertainty out of how your personal and business brand delivers business–Get Your Checklist.
