We Succeed When We Give Recognition
By Roy Saunderson |
Too many people at work don't feel appreciated for their contributions or anything they do and that's not right!
How do we know this? We typically measure the presence or lack of recognition in terms of employee engagement and stick a recognition question or two somewhere in those engagement surveys companies conduct almost every year.
Fellow Leaguer, Stan Phelps, reported that 43% of highly engaged employees are recognized once a week while only 18% of disengaged employees receive regular recognition.
Which translates into a whole bunch of ungrateful and unappreciating peers and managers, right? Well, maybe not. Perhaps that is an extreme view to take.
Truth is, some of us have a pretty hard time knowing how to do this "soft stuff." I pose the question to you: Do engaged employees get recognized more often or are recognized employees more engaged?
By measuring recognition solely through employee engagement surveys, we've done ourselves a disservice. Looking at recognition only through the engagement lens causes us to focus on the consequence or outcomes of recognition done right, rather than how to get it right.
I think we need to measure successful recognition in a different way.
Let's make our metrics more action oriented and leading-indicator focused versus the pervasive lagging measures we use. Why don't we define success with recognition giving as whenever we make time to actually say the right kind of words and demonstrate positive actions to express our appreciation to another person?
I believe we succeed when we give right.
This would make any attempt to acknowledge someone a measure of success. It would become a personal barometer of how well we are doing. Now I know some of us treat saying words of praise or positive feedback as if we worked in a foreign language we cannot speak. So let me give you some simple hints to expressing recognition the way people like it.
About the Author Roy Saunderson has spent most of his career showing people how to give others "real recognition." He really is the Get Recognition Right® Guy. He is an author, consultant and speaker to organizations around the world from North America, Europe, Middle East and India. He serves as the Chief Learning Officer of Rideau's Recognition Management Institute and has personally worked with Boeing, Credit Suisse, Disney, Intel, Johnson and Johnson, and the Canadian Federal Government leaders in getting recognition right. And the best recognition for Roy to get right is being a happy family man and being married to his lovely wife, Irene, for over 33 years and enjoying their five children and eight grandchildren. |