Catch Them Doing Something Right

We’ve all heard it, but do we really put it into practice? So often all of our attention is focused on what is not right—one employee’s tardiness, another’s mistakes—that we don’t see what is being done well. Of course we can’t ignore what might be wrong in our organizations, but what would happen if we redirected the focus to the positive?

But how can we redirect the focus? Unfortunately we can’t just flip a switch and suddenly everyone is looking for the good rather than the not-so-good. Getting that to happen may be as big as changing the entire culture of the organization—a pretty tall order.

We should start small. There are formal recognition programs with metrics and scheduled awards and ceremonies, and then there are informal recognitions. Just a “thank you” goes a long way, as long as it is sincere. Beyond that, there are several types of
recognition that cost the company little to nothing, leaving the program room to grow:

• Peers can note positive interactions and put them in a “Thumbs Up” box—share those monthly.
• Read positive customer comments aloud at department meetings.
• Have a small trophy or some sort of “Thanks A Lot” symbol to travel peer to peer with positive interactions.
• Managers can keep a supply of small-amount gift cards to give as a “Thank You” for going above and beyond.
• Hand-written thank you notes for a job well done.
• Invite employees with accomplishments to attend a management meeting to see the positive effect of their work, or ask them to lead the team (with support, where appropriate) that will implement a change that they came up with.

Certainly making sure that the rewards are effective is vital to the success of any recognition program.

• Be sure your recognition is timely. After getting all the facts and making sure the recognition is appropriate, a “real time” reward will have much more impact than mention of it in next quarter’s performance evaluation.
• Recognition must be connected to the goals of the organization, whether it’s a goal being met or a project being completed, or helping someone else do those things!
• You don’t have to limit it to managers recognizing employees. Peer to peer recognition provides great motivation, as does employee to manager recognition!
• Spread the recognition around. Keep guidelines for recognition consistent, but look for opportunities to recognize those employees that may be quieter about their accomplishments.

Most employees really do want to do good and to be a value-added part of the organization. If we can create an atmosphere where the positive is recognized and rewarded, in some form, maybe there will be less negative to steal our attention away from that.

Written by: Sandra Villegas, SPHR, SHRM-SCP