Recognition is among the purest, most effective ways of communicating with employees. Recognizing people is also one of the best ways to reinforce the behaviors that support a business’ purpose, vision and strategy.
Why, then, do so many companies and managers do such a poor job of it? A lot of bosses don’t even say “thank you” when an employee puts in an extra effort. Some act as if to say: “So what? It’s their job, isn’t it?”
The subject of employee recognition is top of mind lately because I’ve been following an intriguing on-line discussion the past few weeks on Linked In, at its Employee Communication and Engagement section. There have been a lot of predictable answers to the question about how best to recognize and reward employees, involving both narrowly focused and complicated methods, as well as tired, conventional actions.
I’m pleased to note, however, that the recurring theme of the discussion is that the simple “thank you” and acknowledgment go far – especially when received from the CEO and other senior executives. Recognition needn’t involve rewards or money, nor must it be overly complicated.
Here’s an entry in the discussion I liked. “[Saying] ‘thank you’ for a job well done goes a long way… I hear stories in focus groups about how good people felt when a boss, manager, [or the] CEO popped by and said thanks; how [it made their day when] the senior manager took a few minutes to say ‘hello’ (and perhaps ‘thank you’); [or, conversely] how bad and deflated others [felt] when they poured their energies into something, only to feel ignored and inconsequential; how senior managers visiting a site/department whisked in and out without a word to employees, [making] them feel like they didn't count.”
Toward improving the internal climate, one person cut to the core meaning of thanking people, noting, “Simple courtesy and respect. Two simple things that most of us were taught at an early age, and if we were not fortunate enough to have received this in our youth, at least most know how good it makes you feel to be treated with courtesy and respect.”
At base, it is the CEO and his/her senior staff that determine the strategy and direction of the organization. So when individual contributors and/or teams are doing the good work that drives the organization towards those ends, the top people would be wise to set the standard and acknowledge it by saying “thanks.”
A number of discussion participants wrote about using internal communications vehicles to spotlight people’s good work. One typical comment was, “If you have a corporate newsletter or an Intranet site filled with articles about what's happening in your organization, well-written, compelling stories that highlight individual achievement can be your cheapest and most effective way to recognize deserving employees and teams.”
That’s fine, provided the primary (and first) acknowledgment comes directly from the person’s manager or a more senior person in the organization.
The following story, posted in the on-line discussion, was so poignant that I include it here in its entirety. The contributor had excerpted it from a longer article on the subject from Entrepreneur.com. It speaks for itself…
”Some years back, a custodial employee working for one of my clients came up with an ingenious way to eliminate a slip hazard for customers on wet or snowy days. A story about it, with a photo of the employee, was featured in the company newsletter. This company routinely mailed copies of its newsletter to the children of any employees highlighted within its pages, with a personalized note that read, ‘Your daddy's picture appears on page 2.’
“Several weeks later, management held a staff meeting and invited questions about their quality improvement program. The custodian rose to his feet and reported that the day his two children received the newsletter, he'd been greeted with a hero's welcome when he got home. His youngsters wanted to hear how his picture came to be in ‘the paper.’ The kids had subsequently brought the newsletter to school for show-and-tell, and the teacher posted it on the school bulletin board for a week. His kids felt like celebrities at school, he said, as if their dad had been on the cover of Time magazine. He went on to acknowledge that he'd always assumed they were somewhat ashamed of the janitorial work their father did for a living. This expression of pride from his own children, he said, was the most personally rewarding experience in his entire 30-year career with the company – and if this was the kind of thing management meant by ‘quality improvement,’ he wanted them to know he was ready to do anything he could to help. With that, he sat back down. Things were strangely quiet in the meeting room for a few moments after his remarks.”
Recognition, even when it seems simple, can be powerful stuff.
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