Meaningful recognition programs you can actually use
By Tracy Faleide

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I must admit I've grown quite jaded by glitzy Hollywood award shows. Maybe it's because they last far longer than my attention can span. Maybe it's because Joan and Melissa disturb me more than a little. I do, though, really enjoy the morning-after clips showing grateful winners thanking their families, colleagues and even high school drama teachers. I get caught up in the genuine emotion of it. Even those who earn millions on just one movie are touched to the point of gushing geeky-ness at being recognized by their fans, colleagues, and peers. Pretty powerful stuff.

You don't have to go to red carpet expense levels to bring the honor and inspiration of recognition to your company. In fact, I've found that the most meaningful recognition programs are the simplest ones. Follow these four steps to start or tweak your program. 1) Reward what's important and inspiring; 2) Give everybody a chance; 3) Hand out more than a plaque; 4) Don't spend it all in one place.

1) Reward what's important and inspiring. Go beyond the obvious things like exceeding revenue, customer acquisition, or utilization rate targets. You already have compensation systems in place to ensure those goals are met. Look to your company's mission statement, shared values, or top strategies to shape your award categories. Use this simple "fill-in-the-blanks" exercise to surface the words and phrases that you'll want to use for award categories or criteria.

• We need team members who _____________________.

Examples: think outside the box; take initiative to solve problems proactively; strongly advocate customer needs; persevere in challenging situations...

• We need team members who are __________________.

Examples: courageous; persistent; driven; curious; dependable...

• For our top strategies to be achieved, we must focus on __________________.

Examples: increasing customer loyalty; entering new markets or verticals; delivering more innovative solutions...

Next, review your answers. If they were similar to the examples provided, good award categories for you might be Courage & Risk-Taking, Learning & Innovation, and Customer Advocacy. TIP: Keep the number of categories small-ideally between three and five. This makes it easier for people to remember and identify with them, and for you to reinforce them in your ongoing communications.

2) Give everybody a chance. Can anybody in your firm potentially receive a customer advocacy award, even if they don't work on your customer service team? Can new, front-line employees receive awards? Once you've narrowed potential award categories and criteria, ask your team for feedback. Have them test the criteria by imagining who they might nominate, and for what reasons. TIP: Be sure your recognition program includes an objective selection committee, and peer, manager, and customer nominations. This helps you avoid potential bad feelings caused by awards given to individuals whose peers or customers perceive them differently than management does.

3) Hand out more than a plaque. They're overdone and, well...flat. Instead, think of ways to create memorable experiences with your recognition program. Consider inviting your award winners and a few of your best customers to a visioning retreat along with your leadership team. Or send the winners and their families on a fun day or weekend trip. Cash can work, too. Remember, though, research shows bonuses and raises are quickly forgotten when employees think about what motivates them the most. TIP: Be sure your award ceremonies are actually fun. Me-I loathe long, drawn-out awards programs requiring uncomfortable dress clothes and fake smiles. Most people I've talked to feel similarly. Think casual, comfortable, thoughtful, fun, relaxing, memorable...then start choosing a venue.

4) Don't spend it all in one place. Your team shouldn't have to await the annual recognition ceremony to hear a thank you, or be inspired by a peer's success. Employees are most motivated by ongoing recognition in the form of simple, sincere thanks, being entrusted with important work, and getting opportunities to take on new challenges. These are things you can and should be providing continually in your organization. I've seen many failed attempts at systematizing ongoing recognition through the adoption of more frequent award cycles, like quarterly or even monthly. Don't do this. It's too hard to maintain and could diminish the importance of your entire recognition program. Instead, keep your award categories and criteria in front of you. At least quarterly, ask your management team to think about who they'd select at that time for each award. Then find innovative ways to recognize those people in the moment. TIP: I've never seen anything more inspiring than praise from customers. Find fun ways to visibly post customers' kudos, thank you notes, and letters in your office space. Make it easy for team members to recognize and thank each other by designing meaningful cards and making them available to everyone. Set a great example by hand-writing and sending a certain number of thank you notes to team members and employees each month. It's contagious.

When I think back on all the award ceremonies I've attended and watched on television, I can't help but remember Sally Field holding up the Oscar she won in 1985 for Places in the Heart, emotionally exclaiming "You like me; right now, you like me!" Her very human, vulnerable phrase is the most often remembered from an acceptance speech because it so easily resonates with all of us, who, in the end, just want to be liked and respected for doing good work.

Oh, gosh, I didn't expect this at all! Thank you so much for reading my work! I want to thank Mrs. Peterson, my grade school teacher who taught me how to spell and form complete sentences.....

About the Author

Tracy Faleide has twenty years of experience in communications, project and team management, strategy development and planning process, team-building, performance and career coaching and results-based execution. She is a novelist, freelance writer, professional coach and business consultant. Common threads across these focus areas include finding and telling stories of courage through transition, helping establish confidence of purpose and seeing things differently. Prior to going out on her own, she held several team and strategy leadership roles at Great Plains Software and Microsoft. In her most recent positions at Microsoft, she was responsible for Business Solutions' strategy development and planning processes and for setting and delivering on worldwide customer and partner experience and satisfaction strategies. Tracy has a B.S. degree in Mass Communications and Public Relations from Minnesota State University Moorhead. She and her husband, Dan, live in and lovingly renovate two old homes-one a 1907 four-square in Fargo, North Dakota; and the other a cottage on Lake Lizzie near Pelican Rapids, Minnesota.