One question I’m often asked is, “Can’t you recognize too much or too often? Doesn’t that water down the effect and impact of recognition?”
My answer is nearly always to ask another question, “Have you ever received too much recognition?” The answer is invariably, “No.”
David Witt in the Blanchard LeaderChat blog explains this quite well:
“Ken Blanchard has a favorite question he likes to ask audiences whenever he is teaching about the power of recognition. He asks, ‘How many of you receive too much praise at work?’ It’s a bit of a trick question because Ken knows after asking hundreds of audiences, that very few people ever raise their hands. In fact, most people go on to say that the only time they ever get feedback from their manager is when they do something wrong. For these people, the best they can hope for is, ‘no news is good news.’
“Why are managers and supervisors so stingy with their recognition? Especially when we all know how important it is to be appreciated. As William James, one of the pioneers of modern psychology said, ‘The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated.’”
Leaving employees to “no news is good news?” I can think of nothing worse as a feedback mechanism in the workplace.
Indeed, I had to laugh when I saw this post and the included video preview of an upcoming movie called “Wreck-It Ralph.” Apparently, Wreck-It Ralph is the “bad guy” in a popular video game who comes to the decision to leave his game (translation: his job) to find fulfillment in another game (job) because, as he says: “It starts to be hard to love your job when no one else seems to like you for doing it.”
As Ralph hops through other games, people trying to play his game realize how much they miss Ralph in his role. The game just isn't the same. Think about the “unsung heroes” in your own organization – the employees grinding out the work day-in and day-out in the low profile roles. They and their daily contributions are absolutely and fundamentally necessary for making it possible for your “stars” to shine.
Those top performers most organizations tend to focus on? How far would they get without the regular contributors? And that’s why we strongly recommend recognizing 70-80% of employees annually. Yes, your top performers will still receive a larger proportion of recognition as they should, but your “middle 70%” will also receive the recognition they need to know that their efforts are necessary, valuable and very important as well.
Who are the “Wreck-It Ralphs” in your organization?
As Globoforce’s 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 and Boston. Follow Derek on Twitter at @DerekIrvine.
Derek - Another excellent article. I'd take it a step further; if you don't make recognition and frequent feedback a systemic process you will lose a high percentage of your skilled, younger employees.
Posted by: John A Bushfield | 08/21/2012 at 09:46 AM