Athletes enjoy earning their badges of honour after each race. The finisher t-shirt and medal are evidence of their achievement. It recognizes the runner, swimmer, cyclist or triathlete of what they have accomplished. Thus, you may see a new wave of fashion comprising finisher-tees flooding the malls on weekends. Few people would dare ask you if you ran the marathon, or walked part of it when you wear a t-shirt that boldly states: ‘Finisher of 42.195km’. It’s your shirt, and you earned it!
Employee recognition is a crucial aspect of managing and leading teams. It is a simple way of building rapport with people in your organization. It connects you with the staff who deliver behaviors that those around them appreciate, however may be passive to acknowledge. Recognition is also a universal value that many of us can live with. It is the precursor to reward and, sometimes, its substitute.
Some suggested ways of bringing out the ‘glow’ of your staff and colleagues are:
1) Catch them doing right (instead of looking for blame). Do it as on the spot. It reinforces useful behavior.
2) Describe these behaviors of worth to your staff during their one-on-one, quarterly interviews/reviews with you.
3) Selectively send out personal memos of praise to staff.
4) Share stories of their successes to staff at meetings. Identify behaviors of worth.
5) Post case studies of performers on your corporate Intranet.
6) Openly celebrate team successes. Make an announcement, ring a bell, or blow a whistle.
How else do you brighten up your staff’s day? How do you activate their inner glow?
2 comments:
Enrico -
Great post! Excellent points, and all need more attention from leaders.
Thank you, Keith for your comments. I hope leaders will pay more attention to their staff and colleagues.
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