What are the best ways to recognize and reward high-performing employees?

One of the best ways to reward high performers is by not over-burdening them with tasks. We tend to reward performance with more work unfortunately. Money and time off helps too.

Know your employees. While I was on active duty, I had a Marine who had multiple letters of appreciation, so I advocated for an open-ended 4-day pass so that he could attend a family reunion. Within the private sector, tickets to family events, reimbursement for dinner or an evening out, etc., may all be much more appreciated than more traditional approaches. The point is, if you truly value an employee, show them...get to know them, and provide a meaningful gesture. Even something as "simple" as public recognition for exceptional work can be an extremely powerful gesture.

High performers usually have an innate calling to become subject matter experts at their craft, or a great desire to show loyalty to their leaders and will put in extra effort that their peers may or may not. Knowing what type of person the high performers is and what they value, bonuses, time off, words of affirmation, etc..is imperative to make sure you are actually rewarding them the way they feel appreciated.

I agree that the best reward to high performers is to not over task them, but remove meaningless and value reducing tasks from their workload. These employees deserve even the flexibility of working outside the policy and SOP rigidity of established organizations because they can handle risk and decisions at the appropriate level with out the frivolous tasking of safety rails and rigid approval processes.

When it comes to recognition, most highly operational people will say they don't need or seek recognition. Their peers, other operational people know what went down and who did what. However, all are also members of the human race and do appreciate the recognition. Whether a public award or financial award or an experience award, it really comes down to showing respect. It's not difficult to understand what is token recognition vs genuine respectful recognition.

I find this is a critical area that is commonly overlooked. Having a structured, comprehensible and quantitative standards gives leaders and subordinates a much better understanding of what is expected of them.

Your team can’t win if they don’t know the rules of the game. Clearly explain to them what is being measured. We should find a way to measure both the desired results and also the effort that we believe will get the desired results. It’s your job to make sure these are aligned. Do not chase the “KPI of the month.” You will frustrate your team if they pour their hearts into what you said was important, only to realize they did not work on some new thing you never discussed. Ask your team for feedback on how to modify your system for measuring and scoring the results. It’s okay to change the system if it doesn’t work. But every change must be reasonable and clearly communicated.

Poor performers require strong markers and Great performers need as much freedom as possible (innovation comes from this). Both require more free time than they are used to!

In terms of defining the criteria, aside from the performance result, we should also consider the effort it took them to get to their targets. Specially on targets that requires ultimately high expectations, we must not only look on the "what" they've achieved but also look on the "how" they achieved their perfomance goals. By doing this, we will be able to recognize the effort it took for them to complete the task even if they sometimes fell short in hitting their targets.

Existem vários passos, citarei alguns: Defina metas e objetivos específicos para cada colaborador, alinhados com os objetivos da empresa. Identifique os indicadores-chave de desempenho (KPIs) relevantes para cada fun??o ou projeto. Esses indicadores devem ser quantificáveis e mensuráveis. Monitore regularmente o desempenho de cada colaborador em rela??o às metas e indicadores estabelecidos. Utilize sistemas de avalia??o de desempenho, feedbacks regulares e revis?es periódicas para acompanhar o progresso. Defina critérios claros de excelência para cada indicador de desempenho. Por exemplo, estabele?a um critério de "excelente" para um indicador quando o colaborador atingir 90% ou mais da meta estabelecida.

Public praise for a solid contribution is a huge lift. Even for the most senior members of the Team. Also a visit in person or virtually by leadership to a hi performing staff member shows great interest and support.

1. Recognize high-performing employees through public acknowledgment and personalized notes. 2. Provide tangible rewards like bonuses, salary increases, or gift cards. 3. Offer professional development opportunities and special projects to promote growth. 4. Implement KPIs and gather feedback to monitor the effectiveness of recognition strategies.

Praise in public - it’s cliche but effective! We all want to hear ‘attaboy’ and seldom do. An organization that recognizes accomplishments improves or sustains morale. Morale builds and can increase productivity. Nothing fancy is needed, just recognize your people!

Parfois juste aller déjeuner avec un collaborateur pour le remercier à une valeur bien plus importante que tout autre choses car c’est partager un moment d’échanges et d’écoute.

Good work is always rewarded and recognised ensuring the ‘wins’ are promoted and celebrated the business thereby becomes self improving.

Getting buy-in from employees is key. Have each one of them write their own mission and vision statements, then pull everyone together to discuss them. It sounds simple but is effective. Most of the time the best solutions are less complex than we make them. Bringing everyone together as a team working in an environment of excellence, self respect, ownership and pride. Intrinsic rewards the best incentive. Instead of rewarding individuals, reward the entire team. A leader is only as good as their people. Trinkets & pats on the back get numb quickly and become the new norm. When this happens when progress and innovation eventually slow down. People get burnt out chasing awards, but when you have their buy-in, brilliant minds will flourish!

Definitely agree here. One of the most demoralising aspect of performance feedback is to only find out that you have not hit the bar when the results are told to you. I have always made it a personal goal that my team-mates are rarely surprised by the grading, because that would mean I have done my job in communicating feedback consistently, and provided clear enough standards for them to work towards.

Der Chef/die Chefin soll das Wissen und K?nnen seiner/ihrer Mitarbeiter wertsch?tzen und aus deren Erfahrungen lernen. Dabei ist die st?ndige pers?nliche Kommunikation nicht nur hilfreich, sondern auch notwendig, um die Mitarbeiter ihren F?higkeiten entsprechend bei den Arbeitsabl?ufen einsetzen zu k?nnen. Man kann von jedem etwas lernen.

Embracing feedback is vital, but truly valuing it involves careful listening, documenting, and revisiting. Implementing this feedback can transform it into a powerful tool. By empowering your employees to voice their thoughts and contribute to change, you not only enhance your leadership but also foster team unity and growth. This practice nurtures an environment where every member feels heard and valued, driving collective progress and innovation. Remember, a leader who listens and adapts is one who truly leads with wisdom and compassion.

Constant improvement is key to an impactful recognition system. Actively seeking feedback from our team and analysing key performance indicators—turnover, absenteeism, retention, profitability—ensures our approach aligns with employee motivation, satisfaction, and engagement. Your insights shape our evolution. Let's keep refining and celebrating success together!

In a former workplace, we found employees appreciated the little things. A hand written note left on their desk, public acknowledgement, a free lunch with their family on their birthday. Money is always nice, but I feel the little gestures matter more.

One of the best ways to recognize high-performance is the simple act of giving credit where credit is due. In so many cases hard work is taken for granted and a superior will actively take the credit or passively accept praise that was due to the subordinate. The simple act of giving credit to your team for their work pays huge dividends in future operations. Humans want / need to feel validation for their efforts. It is a zero cost act to give credit to a subordinate and it serves to build their loyalty to the team, organization, and you as the manager.

Fostering a positive culture of recognition is very important in a growing organization. Regular feedback and appreciation to the employees is a standard way. But I believe if a good performing employee gets to have a focussed discussion with a Leader, it really shows that the organisation values them. The best thing one can get is someone's time and a platform to talk about their own career and learn from the Leader's experience.

Fostering a culture of recognition is key in the work center. Whether it be organizational awards, peer awards, or just publicizing kudos from customers. Taking the time to recognize your folks in public and in front of their peers instills pride and makes them invested in the future.

In my experience fostering a recognition culture in the workplace is a game-changer. As a manager, I've seen firsthand how giving a shout-out for a job well done can light up an employee's day and boost their drive to contribute even more. It's not just about handing out awards or bonuses; it's about creating an environment where everyone feels seen and appreciated, from the big wins to the small but significant daily efforts. When we cheer each other on, whether it's peer-to-peer or within teams, it creates this amazing vibe where everyone feels part of something bigger. We're not just coworkers; we become a supportive community, pushing each other towards excellence, creativity, and top-notch customer service.

I believe this is absolutely correct. One of the most productive tools and habits I have developed as a leader is holding a small meeting at the end of the week to recognize accomplishment and to let people talk through things that didn't go quite right. The meetings are short and start by recognizing 3 or more people's accomplishments. Then, we transition to what I call the 'mia culpa' part, where people talk the group through a situation they had that didn't go well. I always start it myself to provide transparency and set the stage for listening without judgement or criticism. Team members appreciate the consistency in recognition and the chance to learn from mistakes via first hand narration.

One thing I really enjoy is publicly recognizing and celebrating the success of my coworkers. Talking about what they accomplished and answering the “why” it was so important helps provide context for others to work towards the common goal. If they do receive an award we always ask them to share who’s helped them to emphasize it’s always a team effort. Each week we review what went right and what didn’t happen according to the plan. At first it was hard for folks to admit something wasn’t perfect, but once they saw nobody was getting backlash they saw it more as a learning opportunity. However, this part of our culture took a long time to develop the trust required. They now see failure as an opportunity, not a weakness.

So often we highlight when something goes bad and we talk about ways to improve, which works when everybody is focused on success, but too often we forget the day in and day out wins that are happening. Always appreciate the wins.

As leaders we need to guard against using words such as failure, mistakes or other such words! The connotations are very individual and can illicit different reactions from our people - being innovative or an entrepreneur demands that we evolve incrementally, we learn incrementally and derive a minimum viable product based on short sprints - so that assumptions can be tested, progress measured and motivation can be preserved! Leaders must inculcate a growth culture through the preservation of trust, and by building a sense of collective responsibility so that everyone shares that burden of responsibility.

You learn when you lose, and gain confidence in your decisions when you win. Every project will have numerous loss's along the way and those are defined as "learning points". Those small loss's can be some of the most valuable times in a project or companies road to success. They don't have to be huge issues or even a huge loss, delay, or mistake it can be an observation of change in process that saves time and resources. If we continued the same old way we would have cost the company X instead of the change we made and saving us Y. Those realizations are critical lessons and efforts need to be made to recognize those decisions and observations and applaud the responsible party for their insight.

Recognizing - I’m constantly looking for new ways and approaches to identify talent | self motivation within my teams. One way (upon knowing your team), provide general guidance and vision. Allow creativity and ownership. If they embrace ownership they will be relentless and help you win. If they succeed or even fail but with a great attempt. Must recognize. If people love their work, in many cases, they aren’t looking for more money. They are looking for acknowledgment, looking for appreciation, a little bonus doesn’t hurt either :)

In today's dynamic work environment, recognizing high performers is key. Firstly, show how their work aligns with the team's mission, enhancing intrinsic value. Secondly, offer growth opportunities tailored to their career interests, not just standard training, for real professional development. Finally, reward those excelling in innovation and invention with competitive compensation. This multi-faceted approach not only acknowledges their efforts but also fosters a culture of motivation and excellence within the organization.

Rewards and penalties occupy the extreme ends of your accountability tools, and you can only apply them infrequently. Your most potent accountability tools are Appreciation and Correction, and your supply is unlimited. Appreciation: 1. Acknowledge the behavior, "I noticed you doing ..." 2. Describe the impact. 3. Express your appreciation. This process encourages people to repeat their behaviors. Correction. 1. Acknowledge the behavior, "I noticed you doing ..." 2. Describe the impact. 3. Show them how to do it better next time. This process encourages people to improve future performance instead of defending past actions.

Retain them! Demonstrates respect to them, their peers, and your customers. Promotes a common value core and a team chemistry that is brand-worthy!

For short time giving monetary benefit, vacations, additional leaves adds to satisfaction. But in long run personal connect, growth opportunities in organization motivates more.