Too Much Recognition? Is There Such a Thing?

I advocate for frequent, specific and timely recognition -- letting people know "in the moment" how  much I appreciate their efforts, how their accomplishments contributed to a greater goal. I like to "catch people doing something good." And I don't advocate setting limits on this kind of specific, authentic and actionable recognition.

Given this, can there ever be too much recognition? Yes, there can. Let me explain.
 
In my college days, I had a summer job selling encyclopedias, schlepping door-to-door. My fellow door-knockers and I would be dropped off in our target neighborhood at the beginning of the day, and then rally together again at the end. In that end-of-day meeting, we would receive a certificate of recognition for something – ANYTHING. Every single one of us. The person who knocked on the most doors. The person who returned with the cheeriest smile. The person who walked the farthest. And, of course, the person who sold the most. By the end that summer, I had a stack of now-meaningless certificates at least an inch high. And they meant nothing to me. In fact, that end-of-day meeting quickly became something I and my friends dreaded.
 
Why? Because, in the words of The Incredibles, the Pixar movie about superheroes and those who want to be, “If everyone’s super, no one is.”
 
In a comments conversation I engaged in as a response to a post on HRZone.co.uk, Pamela Pattison made this very important observation:
 

“There seems to me a big difference in thanking someone and appreciating them. I, for instance, am annoyed by a formulaic 'thank you' as I leave the office. (I wonder if eventually I will ask 'what for?'). Whereas I have also had a senior manager just today thank me for the advice I gave which led to a very difficult, potentially explosive and costly situation being defused. The former annoys me as seeming a nod in the direction of appreciation and the latter really pleased me. … I suppose I could sum it up as: be sincere, don't say thank you without good reason; acknowledge work that is extra to the norm.”

That gets right back to my specific, authentic and actionable recognition. People don’t want just an offhand “thanks” or a meaningless and trivial certificate. We want to know why what we did had greater meaning and purpose. Yes, thank us for our efforts, show us your appreciation, but be sure to tell us the specifics – how we helped achieve something bigger.
 
But, and this is a very important point to always keep in mind, while recognition should be “limited” in that you should always be conscious of appreciating and recognizing employees in a specific, authentic and actionable way, setting artificial limits on the amount of recognition that can be given or on who can receive recognition can quickly kill a culture of appreciation in a workplace. As I said in a recent post on my own blog:
 

“And that’s why the OPPORTUNITY to be recognized -- and to recognize others -- should be equally open to everyone. That doesn't mean every employee will receive that "great job" recognition, of course. The top performers will receive the most, naturally. But all employees deserve the opportunity to be recognized for work they do that is worthy of recognition.”

If you want to create a recognition program that excites employees, engenders loyalty, and reinforces your critical company values and objectives, then recognize – frequently, specifically, authentically and in a timely way – employees at any level who deserve it.
 

As Globoforce’s CMO & Head of Strategic Consulting, Derek Irvine is an internationally minded management professional with over 20 years of experience helping global companies set a higher ambition for global strategic employee recognition, leading workshops, strategy meetings and industry sessions around the world. His articles on fostering and managing a culture of appreciation through strategic recognition have been published in Businessweek, Workspan and HR Management. Derek splits his time between Dublin, Montreal and Boston. Follow Derek on Twitter at @globoforce.

Comments

[Drew Hawkins]

Great thoughts Derek. Recognition loses meaning when it's given just for the sake of recognition with no meaning. I remember playing in a basketball league when I was a kid and everyone would get a star after every game. It was cool the first time but totally lost meaning after I saw that everyone else got one.

Valuable recognition takes work but also has a greater impact.