Recognize Right Blog: Unlock the People Potential in Your Organization

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.