Recognize Right Blog: Unlock the People Potential in Your Organization

Next week I will be presenting at the annual Motivation Show in Chicago.  Together with our client, Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, we will discuss how our online recognition platform enabled this organization’s managers to motivate their team members to improved performance.

Five years ago, Wolters Kluwer was looking for a flexible and reliable recognition tool that could be used throughout their organization.  And we had the answer.

Cindy Burrows is a training and development expert with Wolters Kluwer.  During the case study presentation, she will be sharing her journey over the past 5 years of incorporating her vision of accelerating learning and adoption of best practices. 

How she got there was through engaging managers and sales reps.  They started with centrally designed incentives and then turned the reigns over to each functional manager. Post program assessments were required to evaluate ROI. One focus of their incentive was utilization of their CRM system. Her basic strategy was “use it” – and she was right; the more contacts, the more sales. She also wanted to focus on their call center metrics of increasing knowledge, customer engagement, and cross selling, while utilizing a points-based recognition system to reward those who exhibited these behaviors and made improvements.

During this presentation, I will be over viewing effective online recognition tools and how achieving improvement toward your goals (and more) is possible. If you can’t make it to the Motivation Show, check out the presentations online after the conference.

I would like to commend Wolters Kluwer on their utilization of recognition to get more of what they want and to get greater financial growth.

We’ve recently been awarded the prestigious Circle of Excellence Award from Incentive Marketing Association (IMA). I’m very proud of my team as well as my client for creating such a powerful recognition tool.

Just as a little background, the IMA Circle of Excellence Award recognizes those companies whose incentive and recognition programs most successfully motivate their employees or customers. Our client, Scottrade earned the top award for the Best Employee Recognition entry, Above & Beyond.

Scottrade wanted to maintain their “family like” culture.  They wanted a recognition program to make Associates feel respected and appreciated by their peers and by management. The Above & Beyond  program was created and designed to give associates at all levels the power to recognize their fellow counterparts via an online recognition platform.  The process was simple and the results are astonishing. 

Scottrade’s focus is doing what’s right and providing exceptional customer service. Perhaps that’s why they’re rated by Fortune magazine as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in 2009 . They have a great culture.

You might ask yourself, what is the “culture” of your company?  If you feel like your company needs a better culture, especially if you’ve had a lot of recent changes due to the economy, try recognizing the BEHAVIORS and ACTIVITIES you want.  Make sure you recognize the things that support your core values and help you deliver your company strategies – i.e., increase market growth, innovation, or customer satisfaction. Did you know companies with a culture that is aligned to their business goals routinely outperform their competitors? Some studies report the difference at 200% or more.

In addition to driving business results, recognition and incentive programs grow employee culture – encouraging loyalty, engagement, and enthusiasm for the job. Undoubtedly, a recognition program is the most effective way in creating your company’s culture. In turn, you’re going to create a positive, fun atmosphere with engaged and empowered employees!

Does your existing recognition program reinforce your company culture? What do think should be done differently?