Recognize Right Blog: Unlock the People Potential in Your Organization

As a person who is passionate about giving back to our world, I am always looking for meaningful ways to support socially responsible organizations and the individuals they benefit. Last week, a group of us from Anderson Performance Improvement experienced an afternoon at Feed My Starving Children (FMSC). 

Feed My Starving Children is a non-profit Christian organization committed to feeding starving children around the globe.  The success of the organization is due to its fun and easy approach; school-aged children and adults pack meals formulated by food scientists for starving children.  Once the meals are packed, they’re sealed, boxed and stacked on pallets ready for shipment.

FMSC sends meals all over the world, including El Salvador, Haiti, and Nicaragua, to name just a few. We learned how our 2 hours of effort can change the lives of hundreds of children.   At the end of the day, we were able to feed 33 children for one full year!  It was truly an amazing experience. 

What is your organization doing to support social responsible initiates?  Please let me about.

I recently ran across an interesting article in Advertising Age about “Reaching Out to Conversationalists.”  Conversationalists – who are they?  I asked the same thing.  According to Merriam-Webster, it is one who converses a great deal or who excels in conversation.  But wait, a new meaning has emerged!  According to Forrester Research, it is the group who has the behavior of rapid back-and-forth discussion in social media networks (like Twitter and Facebook) at least once a week.

The group’s demographics might surprise you.  You might picture college age, male – well, guess again.  70% of this group is 30 or older, 56% female, household income is $2000 higher then the average online consumer, and their level of engagement is sky-high!

To me, the biggest shock is the number of online consumers who are NOT using social media, which is down to 17% and dropping at a quick rate. Are you using social media to its full potential to reach possible clients?

As we all know, social media is a successful way to market your business.  It’s a great way to expand your blogging efforts, gain exposure to your products and services or find a new salesperson for your organization.

For example, consider Ford using social media to promote a new Fiesta model.  They invited dozens of social media users (with a specific demographic, of course) to live with the car for six months. Not only are they receiving valuable feedback, but they are also building a broader awareness of Ford.  This really shows Ford cares about what their customers (and potential customers) think.

Or retail chain Target’s charity campaign.  The company launched “Bullseye Gives” an online voting application on Facebook.  Users select one of the ten charities listed they would like to see funds allocated to.  The money is given out on percentages; 10% of the votes gets 10% of the money. Because these social media applications are so smart, the vote is published on your Facebook feed which means your friends will see it – and more and more will become fans of Target.  Very clever!

How can social media campaigns work for you?  What are your organization’s strategies using social media?

During this down economy, I have been approached by several colleagues on how to increase sales.  The typical question I receive is “What is the fastest way to increase sales in our current economy?” This particular message was sent from the CEO of a mid-size company. During these difficult times, it is a whole different ballgame and you need to target your sales efforts differently.

Everywhere you look companies are slashing budgets, but you can still make the sale.  How do you handle that less than desired answer “We don’t have a budget for that.”  You want to make sure your sales people have the right focus.

According to the Harvard Business Review, “In a Downturn, Provoke Your Customers” (March 2009), by using provocation-based selling, they persuade customers that the products or solutions you bring to the table are not just nice, but necessary.  How do you change your existing sales force to this new way of thinking?  Recognize them for making the transition to the new desired tactics.

Here are 3 steps provided by the Harvard Business Review that you can do to ramp up your sales force.

1. Identify a critical problem facing your customer, something so large that the company will locate the funds.  Ask yourself “What is keeping the CEO up at night”?
2. Bring a new perspective to the problem; use research and brainstorming to create a new view for the problem.  For example, you are thinking X, and maybe you should be thinking Y.
3. Target the executive to lodge the provocation with someone that has the power to approve it.  Many of the executives you and your sales force have forged relationships with are no longer there, but you can motivate those new contacts by using provocation-based selling.

Of course, this approach is not going to happen overnight or be the answer to all selling situations, but it can shine a new light on age-old selling problems. It can get everyone thinking in the right direction.

No matter what your sales strategies are for 2010, it is most important to reward those sales people who are creating innovative solutions and those who break new sales barriers. Take a look at my white paper, “Impact Your Bottom Line Now, Build a Culture of Recognition.”  Creating a culture of recognition can and will impact your sales people by creating engaged and motivated employees.

What are your strategies to increase sales within your organization?  Does it include recognition? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Last week I attended the annual Motivation Show in Chicago. So you might ask, what’s new?  First off, I am truly amazed how the performance improvement industry is growing in this economy.

Many companies (mostly mid size, 4000+ employees) for the first time are seeking a rewards and recognition partner. These companies have been running programs themselves for years. Unfortunately, they never took the time to formalize their recognition efforts, and quite possibly, many programs were running throughout their organization at the same time.   Not only were results improperly tracked, ROI was not on target.  Talk about throwing money out the window! 

While good companies realize the importance of motivated employees, they are also looking for cost savings and value. Organizations are looking at what is being spent annually and are realizing a centralized recognition system would save thousands.  An experienced partner can assist with powerful online reward and recognition tools, allocating funds, budget creation, and ROI tracking.  Check out the 2009 Circle of Excellence Award winners.

Also, a variety of players in the marketplace are morphing and changing.  Many of those who specialize in years of service, travel options or trophies are now expanding their horizons.  Not only are they providing their existing products and services, they are now offering a more complete array of services.  Goes to show this marketplace is changing just like any other industry in this economy. 

Another interesting take away from the show was the huge impact of green and socially responsible award suppliers.  More green and socially responsible “products” are appearing as reward choices.  And the Gen Y group is the number one fan!

If you attended The Motivation Show, I would enjoy hearing your thoughts and feedback.

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?

When a client asks me questions on how to create a budget for recognition programs I respond, “You need to look at your company’s core values.”  There is more to planning a budget than just numbers.

First you have to ask yourself, what is my business strategy? What am I trying to improve and what is the perceived value? For example, you might focus on retaining employees, customer satisfaction or increasing employee engagement. What is its value to your company?  Maybe what you are spending needs to be reallocated.  Many companies are finding out that it is not spending more money, rather spending it differently.

One of our clients used to recognize employees with hosting a drawing for a big ticket electronic item.  To be included in this drawing, you had to complete a referral.  Instead of having a random drawing, spend those funds to recognize all who reach this bench mark frequently with smaller rewards.  When you recognize individuals for doing the “right things right” those behaviors are reinforced supporting what you are trying to accomplish.

Once you have the value determined, then you can start planning by answering the following questions:

1. How many people will be earning?
2. What type of behaviors (such as productivity, improvement, or recognition), and how many will you recognize for?
   1. Are the behaviors easy to achieve?  If so, give less for these behaviors.
   2. Are the behaviors a stretch to achieve?  If so, give more for these behaviors.
3. How many people do you believe will participate? (About 20% of people do not play in a recognition program.)

Finally, take your budget and parse out by the number of behaviors you will recognize for, the ability/difficulty to achieve these behaviors, the number of people who will earn awards and save some of those funds to recognize for improvement like MORE quality referrals or on time resolutions.

Last week I attended the Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) 10th Annual Executive Summit.  I attended an interesting breakout session regarding social networking.  I am sure you have heard the buzz about the various social networking services; LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. You might be asking yourself, what is social networking and why is it so important?

According to Wikipedia, a social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact. At this time, over 200 different networking services are available.

With these social network services, you can do your “homework” about a perspective client or a new hire.  For example, my daughter recently moved to New York and she needed to find a roommate and an apartment.  First she posted a message, researched her potential roommates (gaining knowledge about their background, family, education), and in the end, she was able to make a better, more informed, quicker decision. 

 It is true about the professional world as well.  About a month ago, we were asked to respond to an RFP.  How this company found us was through the social network world.  They searched for incentive and recognition providers through the various social networking services.  When I did eventually meet the key contact, it was amazing how much she knew about me.

Social networking has encouraged new ways to communicate and share information which I believe in turn can improve your performance and the performance of others.  These websites are being used regularly by millions of people. Share your experience or successes about social networking services.

This past spring, my oldest daughter graduated from college. Where did the time go! She came to me with a plan of moving from our small community to the big city of New York. She wasn’t looking for my approval; she was looking for my advice to make this plan successful.

She is a hard-working, very determined, typical Gen Y. She knows what she wants and hasn’t changed much since her second birthday! Ironically, this generation doesn’t want to be told how to do something, rather told how to be more successful. 

She is finding out for herself how competitive the job market is, especially in New York. Because of this, she has become a master of “follow up” and “networking.”  Remember, this generation has grown up with computers, cell phones, and other gadgets us Baby Boomers hadn’t even heard of.  After she has an interview or attends a networking event, she uses all sorts of media to follow up and hopefully sets herself apart from the crowd.

As a rule, Gen Y’ers are looking for challenging positions which will generate immediate success.  They want to impress their new supervisor NOW.  How do you keep this group engaged and focused on what is most important to your business and retained as an employee?  According to research by the Center for Sales Innovation at St. Catherine University in Minnesota, there is a strong, positive correlation between recognition and job satisfaction.

Take a look at my article “To Engage Gen Y Workers, Adopt New Approaches”. Is your company doing the right things to keep this group engaged?  I would love to hear about it.