Have you ever gotten an award and felt like you were holding a bag of dog poop…and yet the person giving it to you looked like they were giving you a million dollars?

I’ve actually been on both sides of this argument, and though I do a much better job now of recognizing employees, I still miss the mark sometimes.

So I was delighted to find a recent article on Beyond Freelancing discusses all the various ways you can recognize your employees in a variety of ways that actually work:

• Go a little overboard
• Get personally involved
• Think outside the office
• Apply the “significant other” test
• Create an appreciative environment

You can read the entire post at Beyond Freelancing to get a little more meat around each suggestion.

The advice is solid, especially the advice about creating an appreciate environment. The better the environment for appreciation, the better recognition you can provide.

I’d say there is one thing missing from these great suggestions:

The associate

To ensure your recognition doesn’t suck, ask each associate how they want to be recognized.

Ask each person on your team these questions, in private, and make note of their answers:

• Do you want to be recognized in public or private?
• Do you want a gift card or an actual gift?
• Would you like me to buy you lunch, or would you rather have lunch with your manager or a member of senior management?
• Do you want to leave early one day or come in late another day?
• If you could be recognized in any way, what would it be?

If you’ve never done this before, your team may take a while to warm up to your questions. That doesn’t mean you should stop asking the questions!

Listen to what your team says and reward them accordingly.

If you do that, you can create an associate recognition plan that doesn’t suck!

What are YOUR suggestions for creating an associate recognition plan that doesn’t suck?

Photo credit to Philly Gryphons RFC

Post from: EveryJoe

Associate Recognition That Doesn’t Suck

Was she a good listener?

Did he help stretch you to set greater goals?

Did she frequently recognize when you did great work?

Was he someone you could count on to pick you up when you were down?

What was it that made them so great?

Whatever it was, take some time today and give that manager a best manager award.

What is a best manager award?

No, it doesn’t have to be an academy award.

How about…

A handwritten thank you note from you, indicating how much you appreciate the way she made you feel.

A batch of hand-baked cookies with a half gallon of ice cold milk.

A phone call saying “Hey boss, thanks for all you did to improve my life and my career.”

It doesn’t have to be fancy. A little bit of recognition goes a LONG way.

A heartfelt thanks for a job well done would be great!

Though I’d still love some fresh cookies and cold milk :)

Best Actress Academy Awards courtesy of cliff1066

Post from: EveryJoe

Best Manager Award

How do you do rewards and recognition right without breaking the bank?

I’ve thought long and hard about the best rewards and recognition I’ve seen, and I’ve found they share one or more of the following qualities. None of these require a big investment of money on your part. They all require you to pay attention to the person you are rewarding or recognizing and that you make time to do this the right way.

Consider this an overview of an inexpensive rewards and recognition program.

Meaningful – What’s the meaning behind the award? Is it given out with thoughtfulness, care and compassion, or is it just an award you email out your staff to say “Carrie did a great job. Here’s her award” type award. Add some meaning to the award, and you’ve got the first ingredient in your rewards and recognition program.

Unique to the individual – You can make this unique to you, as the manager giving the award or unique to the person you are giving the award to. Most associates want something custom to them however, so ask your associates how they would like to be rewarded, and you’ve got another great way to recognize your team.

Specific reason – Instead of just saying “You did a great job last week. Thanks.” and moving on, focus on something specific that was done, or some specific outcome that happened because of someone’s performance, and your rewards and recognition will be much more meaningful and effective.

Timely – Don’t wait until the end of the year or even month to reward and recognize someone. Make it at least a weekly occurrence that you recognize folks. Even better, try to make every day an occasion to recognize your staff. If you get feedback from a customer that says what a great job someone did, share that right away, so the behavior or service performed is fresh in their mind.

Questions for you:

What are the best rewards and recognition you ever received?

What’s the best way you’ve ever rewarded and recognized your staff?

What made them so great?

Non-employee of the month photo credit to Rain Rannu

Post from: EveryJoe

Inexpensive Rewards and Recognition Made Simple

• They don’t think it’s their job.
• They don’t have the tools they need.
• They won’t deal with the uncomfortable parts.

Wally cited a a study on the ROI of talent management conducted by IBM and the Human Capital Institute and one quote in particular that got his attention:

“While 84 percent of organizations know that workforce effectiveness is important to achieving business results, only 42 percent of those surveyed say managers devote sufficient time to people management.”

That’s 58% of managers NOT devoting sufficient time to people management. Disappointing, to say the least.

Taking a quick inventory around my office, I actually think this number is LOW. I’d bet it’s actually closer to 80%. Like Trident, I’d say 4 out of 5 managers don’t make enough time to sufficiently manage people.

Whatever the number, Michael Haberman left a very telling comment on Wally’s post:

…as any good behaviorist knows you get the behavior you want by rewarding it. You pay someone for their “regular” work then they are going to do that. You reward people for their management work you will get that. We just don’t typically track, evaluate or reward that part of a manager’s job.

So WHY aren’t we rewarding managers for managing people?

Here are 3 reasons we don’t reward managers for managing people.

Staffs get leaner and leaner, so we want “player/coaches” not just coaches. This is my number one reason why I don’t do more people management, and is the number one reason my manager doesn’t rate my people management skills as a larger part each year in my review.

Here’s my typical week: 20 or more hours a week in project meetings, 10-20 hours a week escalating problems, another 10-20 hours fighting fires. Any free time, I can invest in my team’s development and management. I do schedule weekly one-on-ones a full year out or I would have ZERO time to invest in my team. Can you relate to this?

It’s hard to measure. How do you measure managing people? Number of one-on-one meetings with your direct reports? Turnover? I can think of lots of possible things to measure, but to my knowledge, I haven’t seen a balanced scorecard focusing on only “people management.” If you have one, I’d love to see it.

Managers don’t know what they would want as a reward if it WAS measured. Sure, money is great, but what else would you want as a manager? I’d like some flex time, or some more help to get more done. And I feel greedy when I ask for things I may not be able to offer my team.

What do you think?

Why aren’t you rewarded for managing people?

Or are you someone who is rewarded for managing people, and if so, how are you measured and how are you rewarded?

Post from: EveryJoe

Are you rewarded for managing people?

It shouldn’t cost you a bunch of money to thank your team for a job well done. Some of the best awards I’ve received have cost the person giving it to me absolutely nothing, and I love those awards far more than any of the costly rewards I’ve gotten.  As I’ve examined the rewards that have meant the most to me, I’ve come up with 4 things that all of the most meaningful awards had in common.

Meaningful and full of meaning – One of the organizations I belong to and that holds a very special place in my heart is HDI (formerly Help Desk Institute). Each year, the leader of our local chapters gives out awards that cost her next to nothing, but they always make people cry and hold them near to their heart and on their desk. One such award is called “The Rock of Our Foundation” and it’s nothing but a big rock with a nameplate attached…except for the special story Sophie shares about each winner. If you know why you’re giving someone an award, share the WHY behind it with everyone and put the meaning into the award!

Unique to the individual – Before you even think about starting a rewards and recognition program, ask your team how they like to be recognized. Do they like it in public or in private? Do they want a plaque, a lunch, or a gift certificate? Is a high five and a handshake good enough? ASK your folks what the best way to recognize them is, and then do it!

Specific to the action(s) demonstrated – Make sure you say specifically why you are rewarding your associate. A “You increased productivity by 10% because of the new method of tracking orders” is far more impactful than “You did a great job this day/week/month/year.” Work this specificity into the award some way.

Timely – Instead of waiting for the end of the year to do ALL your recognition, how about some just in time recognition, like right after something great happens. If I get a specific, positive e-mail from a customer about something someone on my team did, I share it with the WHOLE TEAM right away so the behavior is fresh in my team’s mind. I send it to the whole team because I want to reinforce the positive behavior and encourage the rest of the team to do likewise.

If you can remember MUST, you can create employee awards that don’t cost a lot of money.

• Meaningful
• Unique
• Specific
• Timely

What would you add to create even better employee awards that don’t cost a lot of money?

Flickr photo credit to Unhindered by Talent

Post from: EveryJoe

Employee Awards That Don’t Cost a Lot of Money

Quick quiz:

Does your feedback sound like this:

You’re doing a great job Joe! Keep it up!

Or this:

Thanks for working an extra hour the last 3 nights to finish up that tough project. Now that it’s out on time, our customers will be 31% more efficient, which will make the firm as a whole more profitable.

When someone on your team does something well, instead of a generic attaboy or attagirl, or look for the specific quality that was done well and thank them for that, along with it’s impact to the bottom line. Focus on the behavior exhibited instead of the person as a whole, and you’ll be much more successful with your praise. Specific feedback leads to specific results.

Thanks to Eric Eggerston for reminding me about this important management tip.

Post from: EveryJoe

Be Specific When Praising: Fast Feedback Tip