Organizations have many different behaviors they are trying to encourage and cultivate from their workforce . The best organizations, those who have cultures that are considered highly engaged, utilize a variety of different forms of recognition to harness the discretionary effort of their employees. We all know that personalized recognition is important and it is imperative to offer many different methods to engage and recognize your employees.
In our experience, the top elements to include in an employee engagement and recognition program include:
Peer to Peer Recognition – Most individuals value recognition from their peers more than anyone else in the organization as they are folks working directly with them, seeing firsthand the effort being put forth.
Performance Achievements – Being recognized for the effort to reach specific goals and achievements will encourage that behavior to be repeated. Highly engaged organizations utilize this type of recognition to get the discretionary energy they are seeking from their employees.
On the Spot Recognition – The ability for managers to recognize their direct reports live, in the moment, on the spot when a behavior is being contributed to the organization will continue to drive that level of effort. It also lets your employees know you are paying attention!
Leader Led Recognition – Boss watching is still the number one corporate sport. A great leader uses personalized recognition to drive productivity, engagement and retention with their teams.
If organizations are looking for more discretionary energy the simplest way to achieve that is through recognition.