Building a stronger message of gratitude

Posted on June 4, 2024 by Nelson Scott

In a previous article, I used the concept of a simple jigsaw puzzle to illustrate how the ingredients of staff recognition fit together. In the centre of the puzzle is the essential component of meaningful staff recognition—Genuine appreciation for what the recipient did.

This uniquely shaped piece touches all the other pieces, all of which are identical in shape and size. None are as important as the Genuine piece or more significant than any of the other pieces.

As is true of all puzzles, the more pieces that are laid in place, the clearer the picture—in this case, it’s a picture of appreciation for how an individual or team contributed, or for what they achieved.

A message of appreciation becomes stronger with the addition of other ingredients that combine to make recognition GREAT (Genuine, Relevant, Explicit, Appropriate and Timely). But what does that mean? How does adding ingredients strengthen the message?

Let’s watch how it happens as I add ingredients to a simple message from a supervisor:

“I appreciated how you assisted your colleague just now.”

Whether delivered in person, written on a sticky note, or included in a text message, this recognition was Timely because it was delivered soon after the boss saw behaviour that they value.

The supervisor knows why the behaviour deserves recognition, but is the reason as evident to the individual being recognized?

To ensure it is, make the recognition Explicit:

“I appreciated how you assisted your colleague just now. You stepped in to offer to assist with the inventory when you saw that she was busy and trying to manage several tasks.”

The supervisor can add that the staff member’s actions were Relevant to what the organization believes is important:

“What you did is a great example of teamwork, which is one of our values as an organization. Working as a team is key to our success.”

Deciding how to deliver recognition requires that the supervisor knows staff members well enough as individuals to recognize them in Appropriate ways.

The right way may be with a thank-you note, recognition in front of the team, a gift card from their favourite coffee shop, or the opportunity to extend a break.

Jigsaw devotees understand that not all pieces need to be in place before they begin to envision how the completed picture will look. The same is true when recognizing staff.

Not all the ingredients need to be part of the message for recipients to feel that their contributions are appreciated.

In our example, recipients will understand that what they did was valued by the boss even if the message of appreciation ends with the first statement.

The supervisor could skip the Explicit description of what the recipient did because the reason for the recognition is as obvious to the recipient as it is to the person providing the recognition. It’s not always necessary to explain why the behaviour is Relevant to the organization’s values, goals or mission statement.

While Appropriate is always preferred, any recognition is better than none.

Even when not Timely, recognition is still worth doing. There is no statute of limitation on staff recognition. Even recognition delayed will be valued by recipients.

Nevertheless, recognition has its greatest impact on recipients when all five ingredients are part of the message—just as we would not abandon a puzzle with a few pieces still in the box.

During Staff Recognition: One Piece at a Timeworkshops, participants focus on fitting all the ingredients together to deliver recognition that is GREAT—Genuine, Relevant, Explicit, Appropriate and Timely. Contact Nelson (nmscott@telus.net or phone/text 780-232-3828) to schedule a Staff Recognition: One Piece at a Time workshop for your team or to learn more about this or other staff recognition programs.

They don’t care. You should show that you do!

Posted on May 10, 2024 by Nelson Scott

Telemarketers hang up on me within 30 seconds, before even mentioning the product or service they are selling.

Their unsolicited calls often begin with a question: “How are you today?”

Because the caller asks, I assume he must want an answer. So, I tell him.

“Thanks for asking. My back is pretty sore today.”

Click! The telemarketer has hung up on me.

Well, that was just one telemarketer. Surely the next one will want an answer.

“How are you today?” he asked.

“All the better for receiving your call. I was feeling lonely and a bit down.”

Click!

That one gave me an epiphany: telemarketers don’t care.

Under pressure to produce, they don’t have time for conversation. Just a “Fine” or “I’m OK” before they launch into their sales pitch.

For them, “How are you today?“ is just a social convention. They are reading a script, and when we answer with more than one or two words, they don’t know where to go next.

Asking without caring about how people might respond comes up in other encounters we have daily. Whenever we make a purchase or pay for a restaurant meal, we are told to “Have a good day.” The speaker is usually just going through the motions.

Related Article: Has saying thank you become just a habit?

Words without meaning are often what staff experience when being recognized, too. Their leaders drop clues that they are just going through the motions and staff members recognize those clues:

The message is generic. Everyone hears the same words or receives the same letter of commendation.
The recognition is impersonal. Recognition usually occurs in groups, rather than individually. The focus is on events, rather than day-to-day recognition.
The person making the presentation doesn’t know the person being recognized, can’t pronounce their name, doesn’t know what they did or understand why it is important.
The person doing the recognition lays it on too thick, as if they hope that among the many platitudes there will be at least one that fits the circumstance.
There appears to be no relationship between the words of appreciation and anything the recipient did.

Attend an event to mark service anniversaries and someone will stand at the front of a room filled with people who have remained with the same employer for five, 10, 15 years or more, to speak about how valuable everyone is to the organization.

“We really appreciate you and your dedication to ABC Corp. You all work so hard and produce such great work.”

Those are the same words that have been spoken thousands of times to thousands of other employees in thousands of organizations.

Scanning the room, you’ll see people who are loyal to the organization, who work hard every day and produce terrific results. But then there are others. They feel no attachment to their employer, never work particularly hard and are responsible for shoddy outcomes.

All that everyone in the room has in common is survival. Over the past five years, they haven’t quit, they didn’t die, and they avoided being fired.

The speakers don’t seem to care about the differences in people’s commitment and productivity. They might care that the people who stay saved them the resources they’d need to invest to recruit their replacements.

For recognition to be meaningful, you must care about people and what they do. You must know staff members as people and value them as individuals.

When you are seen as caring, the recognition you provide will be perceived as Genuine, the one essential ingredient of GREAT staff recognition.

Including two other ingredients will be interpreted as evidence that you care.

Recognition that is Explicit shows you are paying attention to what people are doing. You can be specific when describing the performance you appreciate.

Before you can recognize people in Appropriate ways you need to know them well enough to understand what is important to them. How you recognize them should reflect their interests and what’s important to them and respect their preference for recognition that is public or private.

Leaders who care about staff members as individuals don’t rely on generic, one-size-fits-all techniques and trinkets. They don’t send “Dear Occupant” letters that obviously convey the same cliche-filled message to everyone. They don’t host events where everyone is praised equally.

Whenever you read a book filled with staff recognition tips, tools and techniques, such as Thanks, Again!, realize that not all the suggestions will be right for you and your circumstances. Identify the ones you can adopt or adapt as Appropriate ways to recognize staff members you care about. Avoid others that would not be Appropriate for your workplace and staff.

Because they don’t care about us, telemarketers will hang up on us when we tell them how we are really feeling.

When staff believe leaders don’t care about them, they will “hang up” on them, too. When all recognition is generic, staff will conclude, “They don’t know me and they don’t know what I do.”

When staff members believe that their leaders know who they are, care about them and understand what they do, they will be more engaged in their work and less likely to leave. Staff members will feel they are where they belong when they feel their leaders care about them as individuals.

Thanks, Again! Is available at Audreys Books, 10702 Jasper Ave., Edmonton (and on their website) and online from Amazon, Indigo, FriesenPress Bookstore, Barnes & Noble and from the Apple Books app.

Does the world really need another book about staff recognition?

Posted on December 4, 2023 by Nelson Scott

At about the 9:20 mark during the Happily Ever Understood by iListen podcast, host Melaida Corpuz asked me to compare my new book, Thanks, Again! to my first book, Thanks! GREAT Job! How is the new book different?

A good question, which others might have phrased differently: “Does the world really need another book about staff recognition?”

I wondered about it myself before writing Thanks, Again! After all, people were still purchasing my previous book, Thanks! GREAT Job!

And there are lots of other books available about recognizing employees, such as 1,501 Ways to Reward Employees by Bob Nelson; The 1001 Rewards and Recognition Fieldbook by Bob Nelson and Dean Spitzer; The Carrot Principle, or Managing with Carrots by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton; and Make Their Day! by Cindy Ventrice.

Was Thanks, Again! really necessary? Weren’t there other books that I could write, instead?

Certainly, there are other books I would like to write either about staff recognition or related to hiring and interviews (the latter is the topic that led to me become a professional speaker).

Some of my working titles include Fire the Employee-of-the-Month (a business parable); Embracing the Staff Recognition Underground (about the most powerful type of recognition—peer recognition); an update to my brief e-book, 13 Reasons Managers are “Unlucky” When Making Hiring Decisions (hopefully with a much better title); a self-guided training manual on how to conduct interviews and hire the right person; and How Would Sherlock Hire? (applying to the hiring process the techniques detectives of fiction and films use when investigating murders).

Spoiler Alert: At about the 24-minute mark in the podcast, I told Melaida which work I expect to publish next.

I also dream of authoring a murder mystery set on a trans-Atlantic cruise—which would require a great deal of on-site research!

From this list of possibilities, Thanks, Again! pushed its way to the top of the list. Some force beyond my control decided it should be the next book to complete.

This book is different from Thanks! GREAT Job! in several ways. In part, the intent of the first book was to make the case for staff recognition. It included stories, research statistics and the words of experts to convince readers that expressing appreciation in the workplace is important.

Thanks, Again! began from the premise that people who would buy a book about staff recognition already get it. They believe in the power of staff recognition to boost morale, increase engagement and improve retention. They understand that recognition is a tool to help staff members feel appreciated for how they contribute and what they achieve. They know that staff who are recognized will feel valued as individuals, included, and comfortable being themselves—they are right where they belong.

While Thanks, Again! contains topics that were addressed in the previous book, it also explores themes that may have been less top-of-mind when Thanks! GREAT Job! first appeared. These include recognition of staff working remotely, how recognition can help make a diverse workplace more inclusive, practices and words to avoid because they are barriers to impactful recognition, and the role of senior leaders in developing a culture of appreciation.

Because front-line leaders are busy, with little time and limited or no budgets for staff recognition, Thanks, Again! includes staff recognition time savers and a penny-pincher’s guide to staff recognition. As a reference book and for quick access to relevant tips, Thanks, Again! is divided into 30 themes, plus a bonus section with at least 100 more staff recognition thoughts, tips, tools and techniques that didn’t fit any of the themes.

Each theme begins with a brief introduction (as short as a sentence but no longer than a few paragraphs), followed by relevant tips, tools and techniques, most of which are succinct (although a few did need to be longer).

Thanks, Again! Is available at Audreys Books, 10702 Jasper Ave., Edmonton (and on their website) and online from Amazon, Indigo, FriesenPress Bookstore, and from the Apple Books app.

Fairness is essential to making all recognition practices successful — and that includes peer recognition!

Posted on August 14, 2023 by Nelson Scott

“Employers should think twice before implementing peer recognition programs.”

When I encountered this headline in a news release, I thought, “Oh boy, I have to write an article in defence of peer recognition.” But I soon discovered that I was actually writing an article about fairness.

I am a great believer in peer recognition, which may be the most powerful type of recognition. Unlike the recognition that we expect to come from managers and supervisors, peer recognition is not anticipated. In my new book, Thanks, Again! More Simple, Inexpensive Ways for Busy Leaders to Recognize Staff, I devote several pages to how leaders can encourage peer recognition and suggest ways staff members can express their appreciation to co-workers.

Recipients find peer recognition credible because it comes from co-workers, who understand what is needed to do the job well, often because they do a similar job or depend on their colleagues to do their jobs well so that they can perform well themselves.

Co-workers are there to witness their peers doing their jobs well, so there is no need for a delay between an individual’s actions and the praise that can follow.

Because of the relationship that exists among staff members, peer recognition is fertile ground for ingredients that combine to create GREAT staff recognition.

For all the above reasons, I’m a fan of peer recognition.

Now, back to that news release from the University of Waterloo, which describes research by PhD candidate Pei Wang, published in the journal Accounting Perspectives (When peer recognition backfires: the impact of peer recognition on subsequent helping behaviour).

After reading the original study, I think Wang is not so much finding a flaw in peer recognition as reminding us that all staff recognition must be seen as fair.

For the research, Wang divided participants into groups of three, designated as the “recognizer,” the “helper” and the “worker.” The news release explains that “During this study, both the helper and the worker assisted the recognizer, however, only the helper receives recognition by the recognizer.”

Wang concluded that, “When employees feel that they deserve recognition from their peers but do not receive it, employees can conclude they are treated unfairly, and this makes employees less willing to help other co-workers, not only the co-worker they feel treated them unfairly.”

Let’s put that another way. Attempts at recognition that are perceived as unfair demotivate engagement and undermine commitment to the organization and its purpose, whether the recognition originated from leadership or employees’ peers.

On the other hand, when staff members feel their supervisor and co-workers care about them, are fair in their dealings with them, and treat them with respect, it creates a work environment where staff feel they belong. Staff members are willing to do their best for the boss and the team and are less likely to leave.

Feeling they are valued as individuals and appreciated for how they contribute and for what they achieve makes staff members more confident about how they do their jobs. Well-delivered recognition creates an emotional connection between front-line leaders and staff members and among co-workers. It connects them to their work and to the organization and its purpose, which can increase employee happiness and engagement and improve retention.

So why wouldn’t you want to multiply the opportunities for recognition in your workplace by making sure that peer recognition flourishes there as well as recognition by managers?

In my book, I describe many techniques for guiding peer recognition so that it happens on a regular basis. But the absolute best way for leaders to encourage random peer recognition is by leaders conscientiously recognizing others. Become a role model, an example of what to do. The more often managers express appreciation, the more likely it is that members of the team will heed the advice to express appreciation to their co-workers, too. They will begin to recognize the efforts and achievements of others more often.

Finally, Recognize the recognizers. Encourage more peer recognition by praising staff members who recognize their colleagues.

And never forget that peer recognition never absolves managers from their responsibility to recognize staff. When the only recognition they receive comes from co-workers, staff will begin to believe that their leaders don’t care about them or what they do. They will become less engaged; morale will decline and more people will decide that your workplace is not where they belong.

An author’s work is never done

Posted on July 6, 2023 by Nelson Scott

“The past, for everyone, is full of missed chances.”

– Humanitarian, Le Ly Hayslip

While it may not be politically correct, the adage, “A woman’s work is never done,” is a useful starting point for a discussion of what’s not in my new book, Thanks, Again! More Simple, Inexpensive Ways for Busy Leaders to Recognize Staff.

No sooner than the manuscript is placed in the hands of the publisher, its author begins to discover more information that should be in the book; but it’s too late.

When this happened just after I had signed off on the final version of Thanks, Again!, I recalled the words of the late Dan Poynter, who travelled the world providing advice to would-be authors.

“Your book will never include everything it could,” the guru of self-publishing said, during one of our conversations. “Think of your book as being 85 per cent complete. You will always discover information that could be added. That’s for the second edition.”

Right now, it’s hard to think about a second edition when we are still weeks away from the fall launch of Thanks, Again!

But if someday there is a second edition, one addition will be references to Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life, by Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas, both of whom teach at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Their words would be a valuable addition to my book’s Theme #14: Important? Certainly, But Recognition Can Be Fun, Too.

Humour has a place in staff recognition. Fun recognition that generates smiles and laughter has a positive impact on the workplace. It helps build relationships and boost morale. Having fun at work increases engagement.

“Unexpected, playful moments of praise or recognition can often be more meaningful than ‘official’ ones because they signal that someone is not only paying attention to what we’re doing well, but cares enough to go out of their way to celebrate it,” Aaker and Bagdonas write.

In this one sentence, Aaker and Bagdonas indirectly acknowledged that at least three ingredients of meaningful recognition (identified in my acronym GREAT) are part of humorous recognition.

Fun recognition is meaningful because it is Genuine—motivated by a sincere sense of appreciation for what someone did. By “paying attention” to what people are doing, we are preparing ourselves to provide Explicit (i.e., specific) recognition. Recognition that is Appropriate depends on “caring enough” to find ways to recognize individuals that reflect who they are, their interests and their recognition preferences.

It’s important that you know staff members as individuals when humour is part of your staff recognition practices.

The theme about fun in Thanks, Again! is one of the longest in the book. Yet not everything that’s suggested—much of it depends on puns that make you laugh or groan—will work for everyone.

Referring to workplace humour, Aaker and Bagdonas caution, “What we find funny—or appropriate—is far from universal. There are a whole lot of gray areas when it comes to humor.”

In Thanks, Again!, the theme filled with fun ways to recognize staff ends with three serious points:

Humour can be risky. What some staff enjoy as a fun award may not be Appropriate for others. Know your staff.
Humour based on ridicule or bullying has no place in staff recognition.
Be aware that staff members for whom English is a second language may not understand humour that depends on puns for its effect and could take unintended offence.

When humour fails, you need to do what some people find difficult to do—offer a sincere apology.

“When humor fails or offends, it can be tempting to brush it off as the other person’s problem—‘he didn’t get the joke’ or ‘she’s being too sensitive’—instead of stopping to consider how it might be our problem,” Aaker and Bagdonas write. “In these moments, lean in: trust their reaction, understand and acknowledge your mistake, reflect on your blind spots and make it right.”

If only I had known about Humor, Seriously before I finished writing Thanks, Again!, I might be able to say, “My book is 85.75 per cent complete.”

Theme #14: Important? Certainly, But Recognition Can Be Fun, Too is just one of 30 themes included in Thanks, Again!. There is alsoa Bonus Section with at least 101 more thoughts, tips, tools and techniques that didn’t fit any of the themes but were too good to leave out.

Click here to discover some of the other themes and how you can be among the first to receive an autographed copy of Thanks, Again! before its official launch in the fall.

You Asked About: Using the Acronym GREAT as a Guide to Feedback for Underperformance

Posted on May 9, 2023 by Nelson Scott

The Question: Could the same components that make staff recognition “GREAT” also be applied when providing feedback related to poor performance?

Answer: The simple answer is, “Yes.” All the ingredients that are part of meaningful staff recognition could also be used to provide effective feedback when a staff member’s performance falls short of expectations.

Before we get to that, a quick recap: The acronym GREAT minds us of the five ingredients of meaningful staff recognition. Recognition must be Genuine—inspired by a sincere sense of appreciation. You make your message of gratitude stronger when you include one or more of the other ingredients—Relevant, Explicit, Appropriate and Timely.

Providing Genuine feedback is rooted in fairness. When staff members perform well, praise them. When they don’t, let them know that you are not satisfied, that you expect better and that you are committed to supporting their efforts to improve.

When you recognize staff members when they do well and criticize them when they don’t, you make both types of feedback credible. Both recognition and criticism seem Genuine.

Both types of feedback should be linked to what the organization says is important, as captured in its mission and vision statements, values and goals. That is, all feedback should be Relevant. Show staff members how their behaviour reflects the values of the organization or helps it achieve its goals with recognition. Let them know when behaviour is inconsistent with the organization’s values or makes achieving its goals more difficult.

Recognition is more meaningful when your specific description of the behaviour makes the recognition Explicit. It shows you are paying attention. Feedback for underperformance should include facts. To generate improved performance, you and the staff member need to reach a mutual understanding of the behaviour you observed before you are able to provide your assessment and you and the staff member can identify a course to improvement.

There are more opportunities to deliver Appropriate staff recognition than there are to make negative feedback appropriate. Appropriate recognition is tied to what’s important to the recipient—their interests and hobbies, the treats they enjoy, their career goals, etc.—and their preference for recognition that is public or delivered in private.

Certainly, it is never appropriate to criticize performance in public. Negative feedback should always be delivered in private.

Negative feedback can be made Appropriate by highlighting the positive impact of improved performance on an individual’s ability to achieve their career goals.

Finally, all feedback should be Timely—delivered soon after the action that prompted the feedback. The greater the gap between performance and feedback the less effective it becomes. When feedback is delayed, the memory of the behaviour that inspired it fades.

Apart from during performance reviews, where both types of feedback are expected, recognition and criticism should be kept separate. In particular, avoid using praise to buffer criticism.

For example, never follow praise with the word “but,” such as, “You did a good job on this report, but it was late.” Used this way, but becomes a verbal eraser that diminishes the positive message that proceeded it. The focus is only on what didn’t meet expectations.

Another practice to avoid is the advice to, “Always sandwich criticism between two layers of praise.” Repeated exposure to this “sandwich technique” causes staff to listen for the other shoe to fall because if praise is often followed by criticism. They will ignore the praise that sandwiches the criticism because they believe that only what’s in middle of the sandwich matters to you.

As a leader, you will need to deliver both positive and negative feedback. You should praise behaviour you want to see more often and criticize behaviour that you wish to see less often. When you apply the acronym GREAT, you make staff recognition more meaningful and performance feedback aimed at improvement is more effective.

When you read my new book Thanks, Again! More Simple, Inexpensive Ways for Busy Leaders to Recognize Staff, you will discover a section devoted to the barriers to meaningful staff recognition—words and practices that diminish the impact of messages of appreciation. Sign up to receive regular updates on the progress toward the book’s launch and to immediately.

Staff recognition’s reminder word is GREAT for starting Wordle

Posted on April 3, 2023 by Nelson Scott

Each day, people worldwide open their smart phones to solve a daily word puzzle.

Shortly after Wordle launched in December 2021 it went viral, attracting an estimated three million players at the height of its popularity.

Each day, Wordle devotees have six chances to guess the five-letter word of the day. Letters turn yellow when they are in the word and green if they are also in the right place in the word. On average, it takes 4.016 guesses to solve the puzzle.

The key to success is to start with a word that contains letters that appear most frequently in English words.

The most used vowels are A and E, while T and R are the most common consonants. All four letters appear in the word GREAT, which just happens to be the mnemonic device that reminds us of the five ingredients of staff recognition:

Recognition must be inspired by a Genuine sense of appreciation for how individuals or teams have contributed and what they have achieved.

After that, add one or more of the other ingredients to strengthen the impact of messages of appreciation and gratitude.

Recognition is Relevantwhen it’s rooted in what the organization believes is important, often expressed in its mission statement, values and goals.

Recognition is Explicit when it includes specific descriptions of what the recipients did.

Recognition that is Appropriate respects the recipients’ recognition preferences and reflects their interests.

Recognition will be Timely when it is delivered soon after the action that triggers recognition.

The more ingredients you include in a message of appreciation, the greater its impact.

Looking for more staff recognition-related words for the next time you play Wordle? Consider that Staff Recognition’s #1 Tip: The 4 As includes three five-letter words: Adopt, Adapt or Avoid.

Money is an Ineffective Staff Recognition Tool

Posted on February 6, 2023 by Nelson Scott

Civil right leader Martin Luther King Jr. said it well: “You can buy a man’s time, you can buy a man’s physical presence at a certain place, you can even buy a measured number of skilled muscular motions per hour or day. But you cannot buy enthusiasm, you cannot buy initiative, you cannot buy loyalty; you cannot buy the devotion of hearts, minds, and souls.”

You have to earn staff members’ enthusiasm, loyalty and devotion.

Money won’t buy staff members’ commitment and devotion. Money won’t boost morale, increase engagement or reduce turnover. All of which makes cash a poor staff recognition tool.

Given a choice, most staff would prefer receiving a simple gesture of appreciation, delivered in words or via a small item chosen with thoughtfulness. A survey by the Incentive Marketing Association found that 65 per cent of respondents preferred receiving a gift to receiving cash.

Why is cash such an ineffective way to recognize staff?

Cash seems to assign a value on a staff member’s extra effort, and often the amount devalues the staff member and their contributions: “Is that all I am worth?”

On the other hand, a gift—particularly a carefully chosen gift—has greater value than what the giver paid for the gift. In other words, a $50 gift is worth more to the recipient than $50 in cash.

Why is that?

Because cash has no trophy value. Once received, money is soon gone. The recipient is left with little to show for the expression of appreciation that may have come as a reward.

A survey by the American Express Incentive Services found that 30 per cent of workers who received a bonus used the cash to pay bills. Another 20 per cent couldn’t remember how they spent the money and 10 per cent couldn’t even recall having received the bonus.

Few reported that they spent the money to do something special, to buy a gift for someone or to purchase something special for themselves.

Simple, inexpensive tokens and expressions of appreciation work when they are chosen with the interests of the individual in mind. When a token item is Appropriate, people remember receiving it, why they received it and from whom they received it.

The way to earn the enthusiasm, loyalty and devotion of staff is with simple, inexpensive staff recognition that is GREAT (Genuine, Relevant, Explicit, Appropriate and Time).

Invite Nelson to lead a half- or full-day workshop for your leadership team to identify simple, inexpensive ways to boost morale, increase engagement and improve retention. Contact him to schedule a staff recognition workshop or to learn more (nmscott@telus.net or 780-232-3828) or visit http://www.greatstaffrecognition.com/presentations/index.htm.

Program Descriptions

Improve Staff Retention Without Spending Buckets of Money

Even if more money was the key to retaining staff—and it isn’t—most organizations could not afford to pay more to reduce staff turnover. What people want most from their jobs is to know that their boss cares about them and values them for their contributions and achievements. The real answer lies in simple, low-cost techniques that let employees know they are valued and appreciated for what they do and achieve. http://www.greatstaffrecognition.com/presentations/improve.htm

Staff Recognition: One Piece at a Time

Providing staff recognition is like putting together a simple jigsaw puzzle: easy enough that a young child could do it. Yet the results are so powerful that all leaders should think about the five components of staff recognition every day. To be most meaningful to the recipient, recognition has to be GREAT: It must be Genuine, and it should also be Relevant, Explicit, Appropriate and Timely. As each piece is fitted into the puzzle, the picture of gratitude becomes more complete and the message of appreciation grows stronger. http://www.greatstaffrecognition.com/presentations/onepiece.htm

Retention improves when staff believes they are “Right where we belong”

Posted on May 31, 2022 by Nelson Scott

A local radio station recently invited listeners to share the songs they sing or listen to during their commutes.

My contribution: Right When I Belong by Kermit the Frog from the 1984 movie The Muppets Take Manhattan.

And now I’m here

Now you’re here

Nothin’ can go wrong

‘Cause I am here right where I belong!

Staff members who feel they are where they belong are more likely to stay where they are.

Staff retention is particularly important now as unemployment is historically low and “Help Wanted” signs are everywhere. Retaining the right staff is critical for organizations to be successful.

While there is no shortage of business and human resources gurus offering advice on how to meet this challenge, the best advice may be found in the words of Kermit’s song.

The way to improve staff retention is to create a workplace where staff feel they belong.

To do so has two requirements. First, staff must feel that they are respected and valued for who they are as individuals. They also need to know what they do is important and appreciated.

Showing respect requires that you spend time with the people with whom you work, both in small groups and during one-on-one meetings. Listen to them. Use stay interviews to learn how they feel about their work and their place within the organization.

Utilize what you learn to improve their work experience and create a work environment where they feel they belong.

Embrace the diversity of the workplace. Demonstrate respect for the cultural values and beliefs of all staff members. The workplace must feel inclusive.

To convey your appreciation for what staff members do, employ the five ingredients of GREAT staff recognition:

Genuine—Recognition must always be motivated by a sincere sense of appreciation for what staff members achieve and how they contribute.
Relevant—Linking recognition for what they do to the organization’s values, goals and mission reminds staff of the importance of what they do.
Explicit—Staff will see specific descriptions of what they did as evidence that you are paying attention to what they do.
Appropriate—Recognition that reflects the interests, career plans and recognition preference of recipients shows that you care enough to learn about the staff as individuals. These seven questions are a good guide to discovering Appropriate ways to recognize staff.
Timely—Show that recognizing staff is a priority by delivering recognition soon after witnessing the behaviour that warrants recognition.

Apply these techniques and you may find that your staff will be singing along with Kermit:

Look at us!

Here we are!

Right where we belong!

Tag Archives: GREAT Staff Recognition