Another successful technique for providing recognition doesn’t require talking—that’s right, you can provide positive feedback to anyone without saying a word. The only requirement is you have to see them demonstrating the desired behaviour.

If you have followed some of my previous advice and make recognition an ongoing part of your team culture, this technique will fit in extremely well. You begin by deciding as a team on a symbol to use as a positive cue — a sign you can make to anyone that says, “Well Done!”

We are all familiar with “thumbs up” or “OK” circle; universal signals for positive communication.
I once heard about a team that decided that when they saw positive behaviours demonstrated they would give each other the finger — a raised index finger for “We’re #1″.

A hand signal does not take the place of verbal or written feedback, but it is a useful addition to one’s toolkit for identifying and acknowledging value added activities.

An obvious benefit is that you can do this across a room and no one else even knows what you are doing — something unique to your team or organization. Your own secret sauce!

I know that these tactics seems too simple — but it is inexpensive, personal, relevant, factual, repeatable — and it works.

Employees want to be acknowledged, to know that the company is aware of their contribution or even more important — their efforts to overcome the limitations of their equipment, unforeseen problems, outdated systems and processes are noticed and appreciated.

People don’t leave companies — they leave Managers. Two of the biggest reasons are; Managers who doesn’t know how to recognize people effectively, and having to work around poor performing co-workers, bad systems and other problems and not being appreciated and acknowledged.

When your feedback describes what they did and what they had to overcome, you defeat the negative and create a positive, supportive, high performance culture where everyone is working to improve, and where adding value gets noticed.

Try this technique and I guarantee employee engagement will go up and surveys will have positive responses about management and supervision. In addition, turn-over and absenteeism will go down and performance and productivity will go up.

I must admit, I am uncomfortable when someone compliments me about my work. Of course I want people to be happy about my behaviour (performance) and I want positive feedback versus the alternative, but for me, I am uncomfortable responding to praise, or compliments. I’d like to hear something specific about my work rather than some generic comment about me.

For example I prefer: “That was a great idea you proposed for ……” versus “Your idea was brilliant. You’re very creative.”  (Okay, I like that too, but I prefer the former).

You’re probably thinking I am over analyzing and I should take all the positives I can get and shut up. Probably good advice, but I can’t change my emotional response to flattery, praise, or compliments — they make me a bit uncomfortable.

I prefer a positive comment about the specific behaviour and its effect. Nobody has to add anything personal or gushy to make me feel good. The behaviour speaks for itself.

For instance: “That comparison you used in the first paragraph really helps the reader understand your point.”  Instead of: “You’re a great writer—so eloquent.”

Describing the behaviour and the effect is a particularly good approach if you are just starting to provide positive recognition for behaviours.

It also works with someone you may not have a good relationship with. Anything you say to that individual is going to be hesitantly received — they are sensitized to every phrase, gesture, tone, and inflection. If you have a real good relationship with someone, then you have larger margin for error.

Some other examples of positive feedback include:

• When you apologized for the inconvenience to the customer who had to wait in line and thanked them for their patience, which really demonstrated our principle of empathy.
• That recommendation you made really demonstrated your knowledge about that aspect of the business. It will really save us time.
• Your PowerPoint created a buzz after the meeting. The senior team said your presentation made it easy for them to understand the issue and take action.
• I noticed that your email was sent late last night. I appreciate your commitment and know I can count on the project to be delivered on schedule.

Stay away from describing the person and focus on describing the valued-added behaviour and its effect
After you have laid the groundwork based on what they did and what effect it had, then you can add personal appreciation.

You can then start you comments with “I appreciated you taking the time to….” You have now added a personal touch based on creating a positive relationship of recognition.

Employees want to be acknowledged, to know that the company is aware of their contribution or even more important — their efforts to overcome the limitations of their equipment, unforeseen problems, outdated systems and processes are noticed and appreciated.

People don’t leave companies — they leave Managers. Two of the biggest reasons are; Managers who doesn’t know how to recognize people effectively, and having to work around poor performing co-workers, bad systems and other problems and not being appreciated and acknowledged.

When your feedback describes what they did and what they had to overcome, you defuse any pent up frustration and create a positive, supportive, high performance culture where everyone is working to improve, and where adding value gets noticed.

Try this technique and I guarantee employee engagement will go up and surveys will have positive responses about management and supervision. In addition, turn-over and absenteeism will go down and performance and productivity will go up.

Recent studies that support this philosophy include:

• Spot awards to employees resulted in 10 times greater return on investment than an increase in base pay. (McKinsey and Company Compensation Round Table 2008)
• Paying people a compliment appears to activate the same reward centre in the brain as paying them cash. (The Japanese National Institute for Physiological Services)
• Acknowledging staff achievements (praising employees) had the same impact on job satisfaction as a 1 per cent increase in pay. (2008 White Water Strategies)
• Non-cash incentives were 24 per cent more powerful at boosting performance than cash incentives. (University of Chicago 2004).

The key underlying imperative is that these type of recognition activities must be ingrained into the culture of the organization. A “way to go” that is is out of character will be seen as disingenuous and potentially have more of a detrimental impact that saying nothing.

So make sure these initiatives are evolutionary and build credibility and trust.

The Hay Group, a global HR management consulting firm, recently surveyed 500,000 employees from 300 companies to assess the satisfaction levels of “committed” employees — those who said they would stay with their company for at least five years compared to those who would leave after one year. They discovered that of the fifty influencing factors, pay was ranked the lowest.

There is little doubt that in many industry sectors salary plays a significant role in attracting quality job candidates. However, what many of us really seek is validation for our work. “Show me my contribution matters to the organization” rather than “show me the money” is the underlying message that employers should focus on.

But how does a company demonstrate validation? Some things for consideration are;

1. Offer interesting and varied work assignments
2. Have a clear growth path and incorporate on-going training & development
3. Provide tasks and projects that stimulate interest and give people the tools, processes and support needed to thrive and succeed, while being challenged
4. Formally and informally acknowledge your employees’ contribution to you and your organization
5. Actively solicit on-going feedback
6. Express genuine and specific appreciation for a job well done in a timely manner

Let me know if you have some success stories you would like to share.

Cheers!

I like to treat employees like children!

Before you start calling me names, let me explain.

When we teach children a new skill, we don’t wait until they perfect it before we acknowledge their success. We praise them for each step they take as they progress towards their final goal.

For example, when a baby starts to walk, we are thrilled when they stand, then again when they take their first halting steps and so on, until they are finally able to walk across a room. Each and every time they show improvement towards their final goal of walking we provide positive encouragement and praise.

We need to take the same approach with employees.

When we see them doing something right, we need to recognize this behaviour immediately. Successful performance feedback must be immediate, specific and linked to desired behaviours that you want to see repeated.

Don’t wait to acknowledge effort until it is done exactly right. You may be waiting a long time.

Cheers!