Recognize Right Blog: Unlock the People Potential in Your Organization

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.

I presented at the Loyalty Expo in Florida the beginning of June and had an opportunity to have some very interesting conversations with other colleagues about motivating and incenting customers.  My presentation was focused on Best Practices … What’s New!  What’s new was recognizing customers for their knowledge and opinions.

Funny thing (or sad thing) is that the way many customers get valuable knowledge and information about your brand or product is through your companies’ employees. Best in Class customer engagement used online medium to reward for customers responding to surveys and sharing their opinions and knowledge.

Some of the rewards are additional privileges or special offer discounts.  A major food manufacturer enlists customers through advertising to sign-up to take a survey and receive a coupon for a featured product.  Shortly after the coupon is mailed, an electronic survey is sent to gain feedback on the product. 

Have you been involved in this yourself?  Could you see this working in your organization? Let me know.