Speaker: Ash Banaszek @ashbanaszek
For more, see the table of contents
Tools
- Interviews
- Spotcheck with collegaues
- DoveTail for affinity mapping
What is recognition
- Exercise: what makes you feel appreciated. Last time and when was. For me, it was yesterday when a manager (not me) acknowledged a milestone our team made on a key project.
- Poll to see when last felt appreciated. Most recent but some were longer than 6 months ago.
- For some people, it is only during annual review
- Making your employees and coworkers feel valued by you and the company
- Be specific, descriptive and timely
- Why are you giving it? What was the impact? Be honest.
- Mono directional – I am recognizing you
- Within the week is best
- Email is ok. Doesn’t have to be formal
- Tailor to the recipient – not everyone wants public attention
Less good examples
- Think about how makes feel when manager has to pay for thank yous because companies don’t want to
- HR sent note with pin for 10 years and manager signature. Ritual, not an accomplishment. Not personalized. Form letter.
- Too late – forget
- Where is the bar. If you are never appreciated, better than nothing.
- Checking a box
- Recognition is not the same as team building.
- Don’t want to wait 6 months. Less impact the longer you wait.
Formats
- Gift
- Money
- Time off
- Face time
- Public praise
- Personal note
- What is best varies by person.
- Exercise: think about what motivates you
- Less genuine if do same thing for everyone.
Better
- Be specific. Mention something did. Not just 10 years.
- “The team did great on X. We are going out bowling to celebrate”. Better if list specific things during the event for specific people
Why helps
- Feel happy
- More productive when believe colleagues respect and appreciate them, gratitude from manager
What is worth recognition
- Save time/effort
- Make things better
- Outside job scope
- Stretching skill set
- Doing job while under tough circumstances
- New certification
- Going to conference and presented
- Example of learning from failure (before too late)
- Something cool
- Recognize for things reinforce
Tips
- Block calendar – Ash blocks half an hour to think about gratitude, check in on mentees/managers, send out notes
- Include in project milestones (if x is true, we will do y)
- Put in performance goals. Makes measurable. I recognized X people.
- Talk about it with team/leadership
- Must be visible and supported by the top to be part of the culture. Example: if X, team has lunch with you
- Tailor recognition – ex: gifts, meals, emails
- Remember is it s a thank you gift
- Vary approach for effect
- Make it easy to give
- Make it a habit – schedule time
- Build reputation for gratitude. People want to work with people who appreciate them
- Reinforce people recognizing others
Who to recognize
- Not just managers can do
- Teammates
- Other work teams
- People in roles above you
- Contractors
Traps
- “But that’s their job anyway; Already get paycheck, that is recognition” – think about what done that special
- “What if people don’t think it’s fair” – not recognizing anyone because someone might be upset. Need to make it fair. Find out how doing if less visibility.
- “My folks don’t need to coddled; don’t want to be recognized” – culture failure
- “We already have a yearly bonuses” – not specific, descriptive or timely
- “There’s not on my team, someone else can do it” – all working towards same goal
- “It’s not worth my time” – well worth ROI because others more productive
- Fear of “watering down” recognition – number vs specific recognition/scope. Needs to be equivalent in nature to what did
- Inauthentic – can’t just want productivity gain
- Ignoring standard practices – if everyone else recognizes anniversary, feel ignored
- Folks feeling isolated/unseen – talk to others to find out how doing
- Overcompensating – feels like want something when disproportionate.
- Checking the box
- If barrier to entry too high, people won’t do. Ex: having to find a paper form
My take
Ash asked everyone in the first two rows to wear a mask. People complied. I was impressed they got compliance. The talk was interesting. The examples were relatable and fun. The “what to consider” was helpful in getting me to reflect. I like the reinforcement of specific, descriptive and timely throughout! They said we’d be asked to talk to each other but that didn’t happen so I was wondering when that was coming. At the end, we wrote down what would have been in the brainstorming groups and shared out loud. Seemed equally effective.