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Making Recognition Meaningful

As an employer we know that you want your team to bring their best selves to work. Employees who love what they do and feel fulfilled and valued at work are more likely to show up fully and apply themselves with all they have, from their technical abilities to their creativity and passion (hello, value adds!).

To foster a true culture of recognition in the workplace, the key is to move beyond merely celebrating wins and acknowledge ongoing contributions to the goals of the business, as well as losses as opportunities to learn and grow.

By developing a culture that praises hard work regardless of a winning outcome you provide your team a sense of security and safety in their roles which, in turn, will empower each individual to bring forward more innovation, creativity, and passion. How’s that for a competitive advantage?

Consider how you can make recognition part of your day-to-day culture. Work towards creating a habit of recognition and ongoing learning by sharing your own missteps and failures with your team, as well as what you discovered from them, and provide a space where the process is celebrated, not merely the outcome.

A survey conducted by OfficeVibe cites that 34% of employees are unhappy with the frequency with which they are recognized in their workplace. Simply using meaningful and intentional recognition regularly is the most low-cost, high-reward solution you as an employer can implement to increase engagement and morale for your team.

How can you do this best?

  1. Take time to learn your team’s recognition preferences
    Not every team member wants public praise, nor will every team member want or require praise for the small steps along the way to a bigger goal. Take the time to consider asking each of your staff the best way to show them how much you appreciate their work. Consider also asking how they most like to celebrate achieving a goal, and by who they most prefer to receive their recognition from.
  2. Remember that specificity and sincerity are key
    Consider, before dolling out compliments, what it is you are truly appreciating. Are you thankful for the skill set they bring? Are you recognizing adaptability or agility? The more specific and authentic the praise the more powerful the recognition will feel.
  3. Any time is the right time
    Don’t worry about making all of your recognition efforts formal, save that for the end of a big project or goal. In the interim acknowledge the hard work going into all the steps in between. Offer informal recognition to your team in real time as they work towards their goals. This shows, not only that you are paying attention to the entire process, but also that your focus is not only on the end result!
  4. Highlight the impact against your purpose
    Reflect on what the purpose of your organization is and be sure to credit the specific impact that your team members have on it. By demonstrating how the efforts of your team are contributing to the greater aim of your business you position them as true assets to the organization. Remember to be specific, sincere, and to state why what they did was most important to you.
  5. Know your values and center everyone around them
    Further to the above, when your entire team shares the same core values it becomes easy to have a clear reference point for recognition in your workplace culture. By doing this, you also are developing an environment where all team members can easily recognize the impactful work, attitudes, and efforts of one another creating more peer-to-peer recognition culture as well!

Looking for new ways to recognize and reward your team? MyReward has built in flexibility to deliver effective recognition at any milestone or step in between from you, your managers, or peer-to-peer!