Are Your Employees Getting the Recognition they Deserve and Need?
Last month I went to a Human Resources workshop given by the Seattle Chamber of Commerce called Performance Recognition and found myself ducking toy carrots. Yes, carrots.
Chester Elton puts on a very entertaining, and thanks to his good aim, fun presentation. If I didn't have a fabulous presentation coach (Connie Miller) who advocates throwing questions or things out to the audience to keep them involved, I might have been more surprised at the flying carrots. Chester and Adrian Gostick have written a book called The Carrot Principal. It's all about employee recognition.
Do your employees know how much you value them? If not, read his book pronto! Ever wonder why some companies have employees who work way past 5pm without complaint while others struggle to prevent constant turnover? The answer is recognition. If employees feel valued they'll go the extra mile, if not, they won't. And, you can only imagine what this means to your company's bottom line. Chester showed a number of convincing charts illustrating the difference in company profits if employees feel they are appreciated -- approximately 35% more than companies that did not show any employee appreciation.
What can you do?
In the short term make sure you recognize employee accomplishments (not efforts, which should be encouraged but not rewarded) in a timely fashion. If someone puts out a perfect report and stays late to make sure it's done in time for tomorrow's meeting, make sure they receive recognition the next day. To properly recognize an employee's accomplishments you need to do the following:
1) Be timely.
2) Be specific (e.g., "I really appreciated your accuracy in developing those reports." Don't just say, "hey, good work.")
3) Reward accomplishments not effort. While you want to encourage a good effort, you need to make it clear that results are what are needed and what will be rewarded.
In the long term, find out what your employees really want. Studies have shown that money isn't always the best reward. Chester has a survey to help you that I'm posting with permission (click here to download a Word doc. survey from Carrots.com).
Chester Elton puts on a very entertaining, and thanks to his good aim, fun presentation. If I didn't have a fabulous presentation coach (Connie Miller) who advocates throwing questions or things out to the audience to keep them involved, I might have been more surprised at the flying carrots. Chester and Adrian Gostick have written a book called The Carrot Principal. It's all about employee recognition.
Do your employees know how much you value them? If not, read his book pronto! Ever wonder why some companies have employees who work way past 5pm without complaint while others struggle to prevent constant turnover? The answer is recognition. If employees feel valued they'll go the extra mile, if not, they won't. And, you can only imagine what this means to your company's bottom line. Chester showed a number of convincing charts illustrating the difference in company profits if employees feel they are appreciated -- approximately 35% more than companies that did not show any employee appreciation.
What can you do?
In the short term make sure you recognize employee accomplishments (not efforts, which should be encouraged but not rewarded) in a timely fashion. If someone puts out a perfect report and stays late to make sure it's done in time for tomorrow's meeting, make sure they receive recognition the next day. To properly recognize an employee's accomplishments you need to do the following:
1) Be timely.
2) Be specific (e.g., "I really appreciated your accuracy in developing those reports." Don't just say, "hey, good work.")
3) Reward accomplishments not effort. While you want to encourage a good effort, you need to make it clear that results are what are needed and what will be rewarded.
In the long term, find out what your employees really want. Studies have shown that money isn't always the best reward. Chester has a survey to help you that I'm posting with permission (click here to download a Word doc. survey from Carrots.com).
posted by super webgirl at
2:20 PM
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