A More Impactful Way to Recognize Your Employees

The best managers are great at giving employees recognition. But how can you recognize them in a way that really makes an impact? Start by figuring out what matters most to them—and why. In your one-on-one check-ins, invite them to reflect on their recent work. Try simple questions like, “What are you currently working on that’s exciting and motivating you?” or, “What are some challenges you’re navigating these days?” Whatever their response, probe positively. If they have a hard time responding, ask casual follow-up questions to help them reflect more deeply. If they share an experience, draw their attention to their own effort and progress. At the end of the conversation, reflect back on what they’ve shared. You might say something like, “Thank you for all you’ve been doing; I had no idea you’ve been working through all that,” or “Thank you for sharing your successes: I’m proud of your work.” By the end of the chat, you will have demonstrated care for your employee and given them recognition beyond a generic “nice job.”

Putting Reflective Recognition into Action

Reflective recognition gives you, the leader, a window into what matters most to another person while at the same time, helping employees get present to their own progress and accomplishments. What’s more? When employees stop and reflect on their own achievements, how they’ve tackled challenges, and how they’ve made progress, it is great for engagement, too.?Research?shows that when we make progress towards goals that matter to us, we feel motivated to continue. In other words, reflecting on even small wins can motivate employees to get more done. The best part? It is extremely simple, requires no preparation, costs nothing, and makes a world of difference for both parties.

There are three steps in reflective recognition which, to the employee, is going to just look like a simple conversation.

Invite them to share.

The first step is to empower your employees to share what they are proud of and why. This doesn’t need to happen as a separate, focused meeting. During your regular one-to-ones, or even when you bump into each other in the office, you could ask them a simple question.

• We haven’t spoken in a while, what have you been working on recently that you are proud of?
• What do you want to be acknowledged for?
• What are you working on that’s exciting you?
• What has been the hardest part of your job lately and how have you been navigating it?

Probe positively.

In her book,?The Perfectionism Detox, author Petra Kolber shared that as humans, we have a tendency to minimize our accomplishments and maximize our shortcomings. As their leader, you can help people dig into their achievements and uncover together what it took for them to do what they did.

If they respond with “I don’t know” try following up with questions that help them reflect on what they have done.

If they say, “I’ve been struggling with this new program for a month, but I just finally figured out X and we can finally get it off the ground. That’s exciting!” use positive probing to draw their attention to their own effort and progress. Here are some probing questions you might ask:

• How were you able to do what you did?
• What did it take to make it happen?
• What did you learn in the process?

As they are sharing — and they will likely reveal what is most important to them — listen for the barrier they overcame, the sacrifices they made, the struggles they worked through, to do all they did.

Reflect back.

After your employee has shared, it is time to reflect back on what you heard. Sometimes this can be as simple as “Thank you for all you have been doing, I had no idea you had worked through all that,” or “Thank you for sharing, that is amazing.”

Other times, maybe when you have not spoken in a long time, or notice your employee struggling, it is important to reflect back in more detail to show them you understand what they have been working on and amplify what they have done. You could say: “Alia, I knew the training program you put together was amazing, but I had no idea everything you had been doing behind the scenes to make this happen. From the curriculum design, to organizing the filming and editing of all the content, to the thought you put into rolling this out to all our stores is extraordinary. And doing all of this on top of your life outside of work. Thank you for everything you have been doing.”

Reflective recognition is a simple way to empower your people to share what they are proud of and why.?It’s important to note that some people aren’t used to talking about what they’re proud of, so it may take some time for your team to warm up to the idea. But if you build it into each of your one-on-ones, and team meetings,?people will start coming ready to share and, you may just build a culture of recognition and celebration where good work is validated, and employees feel valued.

This tip is adapted from?“A Better Way to Recognize Your Employees,”?by Christopher Littlefield