Episode 64: 3 Keys to Meaningful Recognition

Hello my friends, welcome to episode 64. I wanted to build on last week’s episode on recognition and share just 3 keys to making it more meaningful.

1.      Listen to how people want to be recognized – They will tell you, in the most interesting ways if you just listen.

And people are so interesting because everyone is just a little different so don’t hesitate to try out different ways of recognition and see what sticks.

Now let me tell you a story about this one.

I was working on a project at a client site.

It had been a long go.

They had to put up with me coming in just about every day for a couple of months, disrupting their typical process, adding a few things to their to-do list every day, and probably slowing them down. Now it was months that they had been dealing with me.

One day when we still had a few more weeks to go, someone on staff jokingly told me that they were going to have an end-of-project cake when this thing was all done.

Now we still had weeks to go but I took this as them telling me how they wanted to be recognized for all the extra effort they had done to make this project happen.

So on the day I knew we would finish, I made a Costco run. 3 different cakes later I was making my way out there for the last time.

When I walked into that office with End of project cake – their faces said it all.

They were delighted.

They were a bit sheepish that they had asked for it.

But it showed them that I listened to them and I knew the work that they had done and appreciated it.

Now I don’t get it right all the time but I wanted to share this as an example of how people will tell you what they want.

And so often it really isn’t that expensive or extreme. It is a day off or just being able to leave a few hours early. An extra treat. A thank-you. A bit of flexibility. A party. A morning chat.

They will tell you.

And if you don’t hear it, ask them.

If I was to bring a treat, what would you like?

Also, you can experiment, and see how they respond when you do different things to acknowledge them.

Let me tell you a story about this.

I was once working with a crew processing cattle on a project and the first day I showed up got things started and it was a rough go.

Now I always expect day one to be a bit rough.

Something new, figuring things out.

All good and expected but we definitely didn’t get the number of cattle processed that we needed to.

And honestly, if we stayed at that rate we were going to be there for months!

So the next day I brought donuts.

Just to say thank you for working through the tough day before and to start the next day with a bit of a treat.

That day we processed 4x the number of cattle.

Wow.

Day 3 – no donuts. Back down to day one numbers.

After that, I didn’t waste time. Donuts were coming with me all the time.

This crew needed just that little bit of a thank you, recognition, treat

And they really responded to it.

People will tell you what they want and what they interpret as recognition in how they act.

Pay attention.

2.      Make it really specific so you can acknowledge them all the time.

Big formal thank you’s are less common and often less specific.

So I really like to get down to the specific with thank you’s and recognition so that I can do it more often.

If you tell someone that you think they do an amazing job with their clients. You can do that once and if you repeat it starts to get a little redundant and lose sincerity.

But if you tell them that you think they did an amazing job of presenting that specific project to the client and you think that the way they answered that question about sclerotinia was worded perfectly.

And then later thank them for driving out to fill a client’s need at the last minute.

You have acknowledged their amazing ability to meet clients’ needs in many different ways but have done it in a way that leaves so many more opportunities for more praise as well as shows them that you know exactly what they do well.

Specific thank-you’s and acknowledgments are very powerful and never get old.

Nothing is too small to be acknowledged.

3.      Do it often.  Don’t be stingy with praise EVER! Just because you said thank you yesterday or offered praise yesterday doesn’t mean their tank is full and they don’t need more.

Whenever you get a chance or it pops into your mind – tell people. We are all a bit hungry for praise so don’t hold back.

This has a huge impact.

I was listening to a workshop on burnout and one of the points was that acknowledgment and recognition can affect turnover rates! This stuff can affect turnover rates!

And impact turnover rates.

So businesses that had a 25% turnover rate could reduce it to <2% by acknowledging each individual 12 times a year.

People need that much acknowledgment!

The only way for us to make that happen is for us all to get involved.

Acknowledge others – tell them the good you see.

Acknowledge yourself – tell yourself you are proud of yourself. You did a good job.

And if you need to hear it from someone please hear it from me: You are doing an amazing job. I know if I could follow you around for a day, I know that I could find something that you are doing well. Something that you are doing that no one else could do or would do. A contribution you are making to the world. A way that you are making things better for your coworkers, your manager, your clients, your family, and your friends.

It is easy to talk about all the things that are going wrong but I tell you the things that are done well are always there too.

So let’s listen to the wishes of others.

Let’s tell them all the good that we see them do and thank them for all the time and sacrifice that they make that improve things for us.

And Let’s do it often.

It will be fun.

Have a wonderful week.