Today I challenge you to recognize someone who has gone above-and-beyond. Make it memorable and make it fun! Here are some great examples to get your creative juices flowing.
At our workplace, we have used “chair drops” as a recognition vehicle. An employee would return from a meeting or lunch break and find a motivational message (from a manager or co-worker) along with a bag of homemade caramels. The employee would be asked to read the message and would receive a round of applause from fellow co-workers. The environment would be bursting with excitement!
One of our clients would reward others with rocks with hand painted messages of “You Rock” and “You’re a Rockstar”. This would be proudly displayed at their work station. It was a very sought after item, as well as a big conversation piece!
Another one of our clients was having engagement issues within their IT group. The company had a large whiteboard within the department and employees were encouraged to write “recognition” messages to other employees and managers. Messages ranged from thanking others to team goals to motivational quotes. Each week the messages would be erased so the recognition can be fresh and current. Employees would gather around the white board – a true “water cooler” area, which resulted in great knowledge sharing.
Other things to remember about recognition:
- Recognition is a great form of feedback – let them know how they are doing
- Recognition is a powerful tool – behaviors will change right before your eyes
- Recognition happens formally and informally – you don’t need a stage and microphone to make someone’s day
So, let’s hear it . . . who are you going to recognize today? And what are you going to do to make it fun?
One of the best points made is that recognition can be done informally too. It doesn’t take an entire structured program just to stop and say thanks for someone’s hard work. Little steps like that make an overall incentives program that much more successful.
Drew, you are exactly right. There is allot of data that proves the financial benefits of those little steps to say thank you and it makes you feel great TOO!
Thank you for your comments.