All parents teach their children from a very early age to say thank-you as a basic courtesy or acknowledgement of appreciation. As a widely accepted human behaviour, it is interesting that simple recognition or the process of actually saying thank-you does not play a larger role within the workplace. When was the last time you said thank-you to a colleague?An incredibly cost effective yet underutilised reward initiative is a systematic and formal recognition program. A study on the link between recognition and performance revealed 77.6% of employees stated it was ‘very or extremely important to be recognised by managers when they do good work’.
Recognition programs must be publicly announced (company or function wide) and be consistent and systematic to encourage the desired behaviour. They can be used to focus performance within areas of the business which could include;
· living corporate values
· customer service excellence
· process and product innovation
· corporate social responsibility
The difficult thing about managing a culture within an organisation is the number of variables that contribute to its existence. Some people will be driven to achieve or perform because there are financial rewards on offer. Others will simply want to do a good job because people within the team are depending on them. Leverage comes when you can develop reward initiatives that appeal to many different aspects of human motivation.
Why does recognition motivate so many people?
Competence - the desire to do a job & do it well. Here the drive to perform is the individual’s own standards or expectations of performance. Recognition demonstrates the organisations value for this level of competence.
Reputation – the desire to be known publicly and be liked. To be known amongst the business or within the industry as good at what you do. Recognition contributes to the development of reputation.
Contribution - to connect with and be part of a bigger vision, for your skills to be used. Recognition highlights the value individuals play in achieving this broader vision.
Competition - desire to achieve and win. This type of individual is motivated not by the end goal but by being the best, over and above the standards other colleagues set. Recognition acknowledges the winner.
Whilst the above drivers do not operate in isolation, most people are motivated by one primary driver. What is common regardless of why recognition motivates, is that it feels good to be recognised and ultimately this type of reward will inspire repeated performance.
