How do you show appreciation for your employees?

Culture is quintessential to developing any program be it motivating your employees or developing them. But knowing employees, as an individual and a professional, goes a long way in nurturing a healthy work environment not just for the individual but for the whole organization. It shows that they 'matter'. It develops respect for each other. It aids in knowing each other. And it helps in the development of the individual. Most of all it helps immensely for the employee to realize that the organization is committed to his/her success.

Understanding each person’s individual recognition preferences is key to making it meaningful. For example, not everyone wants to be publicly recognized or appreciated, so even if you have the best intentions, celebrating them in a town hall or on social media might not have the intended effect. Likewise, a handwritten note might be incredibly meaningful for one of your employees, while someone else might prefer a form of monetary appreciation. You don’t need a formal interview or personality test to gauge recognition preferences- a simple conversation with your direct reports or other team members will do the trick.

The culture of appreciation and honest feedback begins by recognizing the Strengths and Weaknesses of your employees. Unless you know them you will not be able to develop them. Appreciations and feedback go hand in hand. Employees seek opportunities of growth and should feel rewarded for their accomplishments.

Building a framework and defining criteria for it all can be done with the understanding of the workplace and standards followed. But the key is how effectively we are going to implement to gain majority acceptance. So building good managers in all layers who can take the spirits and engage everyone in the team is crucial for all implementation. Otherwise it remains a tick mark exercise.

Having an open conversation for authentic relationship building is the best approach. Other questions you can ask in addition to the ones above are: - What has been your greatest accomplishment? - What type of work brings you the most joy? - How would you like to grow? - What do you need to be successful in your job?

Try to find good in everything. Keep praise genuine and to the point. Adopt a sandwich approach when giving feedback i.e. start with postive, give the reinforcing feedback and then end with reassuring positive note.

Allowing employees to present their projects in meetings is another form of recognition. In this activity, the employee will be recognized or praised by their coworkers in addition to their supervisors.

‘The person who feels appreciated will always do more than what is expected’ celebrating accomplishment both big and small encourage employees to strive for excellence. It boosts their productivity and morale, enhances their job satisfaction and drives innovation.

Use every opportunity to show appreciation and recognition. At the same time, add substance (context, what is appreciated in particular, what is the positive outcome that adds value). And give also feedback that offers an opportunity for learning and improvement. Praise only is not credible.

Rewards could be both monetary and non monetary. Offering opportunities for training, workshops, or attending conferences that align with their career goals could be more boosting for some while recognition like employee of the month, team appreciation, peer recognition, thank you notes could also be other means to show the appreciation.

Frequent, ongoing recognition- which can be either monetary or non-monetary- helps reinforce the behaviors you want to encourage and has been shown to increase employee engagement and performance. In addition to annual rewards processes, which might include bonus and stock awards, consider how you can foster and enable a culture of ongoing recognition within your organization throughout the year.

Take a moment to think: what reward is most appreciated by this employee. Standard reward does not make a difference as it is expected anyway. Gongte extramile and customize it.

Have a clear understanding about where it is your employees need growth opportunities and map those opportunities so that they align with their career goals. Meaningful empowerment is what will resonate best and lead to win, win outcomes.

Empowerment also means providing mental wellbeing support in the workplace to ensure that employees have a healthy work life balance and are not burnt out always trying to meet deadlines. This boosts staff productivity levels and overall company results.

Empowering employees is a discreet way to show the trust placed in them. It is knowing their capabilities and trusting them to make the right choices. It is engendering in them the value that they make decisions. It is trusting them with the autonomy and upholding the choices made. Indirectly, it is self development and the individual taking responsibility to be the owner of self growth. It is communicating to the employee that his/her 'voice' matters.

One of the most important ways you can empower your employees is to enable ways for them to provide peer-to-peer recognition (monetary or non-monetary). We all benefit from both giving and receiving gratitude and recognition, and it will help build a culture of recognition within your organization.

Enable and empower them - however, stay close and create enough psychological safety so they share what’s bothering them openly and without the fear of being considered as insufficient. Act as a coach rather than a teacher who knows the best solution already. Explore it together instead.

Celebration should also be meaningful so don’t be shy in asking your employees what would be a meaningful way to celebrate successes.

Yes, in my experience important, a quick win that is often neglected, especially if the leader has a hidden belief that hard work is the key for everything.

A celebration upon reaching a goal gives everyone that small edge toward wanting to finish something. I've seen bells, chocolate, pizza, beers, and all sorts of stocks people use to celebrate. Another factor is that celebration necessarily involves the team, this makes it clear to everyone which ones are the qualities we value.

Empathy is an important component of caring and helps managers more effectively lead their teams. It’s also a key driver of high performance. It might be considered a “soft” skill but it can also drive significant business results.

Caring and genuine connection are the cornerstone of relationship building, you should lead with that before doing anything else.

Leading with empathy and compassion and setting positive examples for the team is an important part of showing appreciation.

Everyone enjoys receiving positive feedback, as I have discovered from my experience dealing with a wide range of organizations and individuals. A raise or bonus are useful, but they only provide a short-term solution. Thank your staff by paying attention to their suggestions and/or concerns. Give a hearty pat on the back to staff members who are willing and arrive at work with a cheerful attitude, as well as to those who are having some difficulty but are still making an attempt. By paying attention, complimenting, interacting, and communicating, you demonstrate respect as well as gratitude.

ACKNOWLEDGE MISTAKES & FAILURES Since humans aren't perfect, they tend to make mistakes and has lomitatiyin capabilities. Acknowledging this fact by contributing to the effirts or rectifying the shortcomings. Eg if the mistakes or failure is caused by incapability, then the staff should be given the opportunity to upgrade his capabilities or rectify the mistakes accordingly.