I am happy to introduce you to Stan Phelps as my guest blogger today. Stan is the CMO (Chief Measurement Officer) at 9 Inch Marketing and the author of “What’s Your Green Goldfish – Beyond Dollars: 15 Ways to Drive Employee Engagement and Reinforce Culture”
You don’t have to be a manager to get value from Stan’s wealth of experience and the tips he shares:
Recognition fuels a sense of worth and belonging in individuals. No rocket science here. As humans we crave acceptance. Yet, the majority of companies see recognition as an afterthought. Most are putting the cart before the horse. Recognition can impact satisfaction and more importantly performance.
SHIFTING A MINDSET
Most managers take an, “if, then” approach to recognition. Shawn Achor believes this paradigm needs to change, “…from thinking that encouragement and recognition should be used as rewards for high performance as opposed to thinking that encouragement and recognition are drivers of high performance.” {Source: The Happiness Advantage}
Here are five Green Goldfish ways to make a difference with Recognition
1. Get Creative and Have Fun – Decision Lens (Green Goldfish #712) awards top-performing salespeople with custom-made action figures designed to resemble the employee. According to Co-Founder John Saaty,
“It’s a humorous way to acknowledge the great efforts of our sales team, and something that’s more memorable than the usual plaque or something like that.” {Source: Entrepreneur}
2. Make it Visible – The Tabar (Green Goldfish #411) Thumbs Up Award is a roaming statue that sits on an employee’s desk when he or she goes over and above the call of job performance. {Source: Outside Magazine}
3. Do it often and consistently – Every week The Nerdery (Green Goldfish #305) agency compiles a video of shout-outs, with employees publicly praising their fellow nerds for going above and beyond. Five shout-out recipients are chosen for free lunches the following week. The weekly shout-out video is played for all at the Friday afternoon Bottlecap Talk, where the agency celebrates the successful launch of a recent project with a show-and-tell demo led by the rockstar developers who made it happen. {Source: Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal}
4. Take Note – it doesn’t have to cost anything. Former CEO of the Campbell Soup Company (Green Goldfish #21) Doug Conant is a big proponent of the power of handwritten notes. In Doug’s words,
“Look for opportunities to celebrate. My executive assistants and I would spend a good 30 to 60 minutes a day scanning my mail and our internal website looking for news of people who have made a difference at Campbell’s. Get out your pen. Believe it or not, I have sent roughly 30,000 handwritten notes to employees over the last decade, from maintenance people to senior executives. I let them know that I am personally paying attention and celebrating their accomplishments.(I send handwritten notes too because well over half of our associates don’t use a computer).
I also jump on any opportunities to write to people who partner with our company any time I meet with them. It’s the least you can do for people who do things to help your company and industry. On the face of it, writing handwritten notes may seem like a waste of time. But in my experience, they build goodwill and lead to higher productivity.” {Source: HBR}
5. Don’t play politics, recognize everyone on the merits. Long before he became CEO of iProspect (Green Goldfish #739), back as an analyst at Bain Capital and KPMG, Robert J. Murray had an idea on how you should run a services business. “One thing that always surprised me in prior work experiences is when your assets walk out the door each day, why aren’t companies doing more to value the people doing the business?”
Mr. Murray thinks he’s found the answer to that, and quite a large number of his employees happen to agree. Mr. Murray’s formula: hire competitive people; promote early and often; give constant feedback, including iProps — notes of encouragement. “We are a meritocracy. When positions come open, we don’t care if you’ve been here six months or six years — we will promote the best person into that position,” he said. {Source: AdAge.com}
RECOGNITION RESONATES
Recognition is effective. Thirty-five percent of workers and 30% of chief financial officers cited frequent recognition of accomplishments as the most effective nonmonetary reward. Thanking people for their hard work and commitment is key to making them feel appreciated. {Source: Accountemps}
Remember, it’s not just an afterthought, it’s a driver of performance.
About the Author 9 INCH MARKETING, an organization that believes today’s leaders need to think differently about marketing, employee engagement and corporate culture. He is the author of “What’s Your Green Goldfish – Beyond Dollars: 15 Ways to Drive Employee Engagement and Reinforce Culture”
Alan’s note: Please jump in and leave your comments, ideas and insights.
Categorized in: Uncategorized
| << previous | next >> |