Real Leaders Recognise!

When we speak on how to engage our employees, the one thing you will almost always hear is that people want recognition within the workplace; now, recognition can come in many forms, no, I’m not just speaking about recognising someone efforts, yes, this is incredibly important, but it doesn’t start and stop there.

According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, applying this to a work setting of course; recognition is vital, we have an innate desire to belong, and to feel accomplished etc.

Thank you for recognising that I have not been myself lately:

As a leader, it’s important to be aware of your surroundings and of your people, emotional intelligence is vital. We all have off days, if you notice that your people aren’t performing to the standards set (KPI’s), or seem to be down and not engaged, then don’t just speak to them about the targets they aren’t meeting; why not check in with them on a personal level, have a human to human conversation with them in private.

How amazing would it be for your leadership team to take the time out to find out and see how you’re doing? Wouldn’t it be great if they could replace the conversation around how much you’ve failed, and how bad it is that your KPI’s and targets haven’t been met, with how can I support you to be the best you that you can be?

People are just that, people; we’re not machines, if you’d prefer not to support your employees in this manner, the “soft or fluffy stuff” as I’ve heard it being referred to, then invest in AI, you’d have a lot less stress… unless there’s a power cut, and then you’d be in trouble. (That was a joke by the way) 

Thank you for recognising all of my hard work and efforts:

I’ve worked in environments before where you know you’re doing fantastically well when your line manager is quiet and says nothing, as they only speak to you when something goes wrong. We need to change this, you may see it as a baby sitter, or primary school teacher’s job, and you may say “well we’re all adults here, people are too sensitive”, but honest and deserved recognition goes a long way.

You could recognise someone’s efforts openly, by having a round of applause and sharing it with the rest of the office, you could send over an email, you could send over an e-card or take them out for lunch/dinner (depending on your budget of course). There are so many ways to recognise someone (too many to mention on a blog) so why not start now!

Thank you for recognising that you also have some improvements to make:

360 feedback is the term, allowing someone to critique your ways of working and approach is essential. Ask your employees in a one to one setting, or have a round-table discussion around how you can improve as a leader. No, this is not a PR stunt to appease your people; go ahead, give your employees a platform to share their experience of what it’s like to work alongside you, you may just find out that your reality and their perception and experience of you does not match up.

Once you’ve received your employee’s feedback, set some actions to follow through on how you’ve heard and yes, listened to them, along with what you’re aiming to do to improve ways of working etc. Please, please, please, don’t let this session be just “lip service” as some may say, follow through otherwise you’ll come across as an inauthentic leader that honestly does not care about your people's experiences, this will surely disengage them further.

Thank you for recognising my potential, and that I could have gotten that promotion:

There’re times when someone is almost there, in terms of getting a promotion, but you still have some reservations… so close yet so far. Instead of personifying an awkward teenager in a 90’s Hollywood school disco, why not engage your employees and be honest. Some people are amazing at managing the process but fail at managing people, this could well be one of the reasons why your employee didn’t get the promotion, work on your messaging and make sure that it lands.

Whatever the reason for your employee not getting promoted, work with them to build upon their experience, speak with them and not to them. We all have knowledge gaps/things we can and should improve on, let’s take our people on a journey with us, on how they can be future leaders; sometimes it’s about the journey not about the destination.

Thank you for recognising where the business failed me, and thank you for recognising what you could have done differently:

The good old exit interview and letter of resignation conversation:

When an employee decides to leave an organisation, whether it be within their probationary period, or a long-term employee, the conversation can be a weird one. Some home truths may be told, and you may be defensive, or not see it from their point of view. Don’t just hear to respond, hear them out and listen to them; you may completely disagree, but you cannot speak on their experience. They have watched the business/you in action, and that’s something that they have over you, you will never truly know how people perceive and experience you/your business unless they tell you themselves, so let them tell you. 

Take a step back and maybe think about how you could have retained their talent, have a think about whether or not you could have, should have, and in hindsight, would have done something differently. These interviews/ conversations are designed to gather data/information, to improve on mistakes made, so let’s actually learn from them.

Departure emails:

We’ve all see those emails, announcing that so and so “has decided to move on to pastures new, and we wish them all the best in their future endeavours” Really? These emails are so outdated. Honesty goes a long way, I myself have been guilty of sending these emails out in the past, so you’re not alone. How about calling a thing a thing, acknowledge that you as a business could have and should have supported the employee that has decided to leave more, recognise that you will learn from this situation and that you have put actions in place to ensure that no one else has this experience moving forward.

This not only allows the person leaving to feel a sense of validation, but it allows your existing employees to see that you care, that you listened, and that you’re providing them with a “safe space” to be themselves without repercussions. Let’s be honest, most of your employees know when someone is going to leave before you do, the person that is leaving your organisation, may have shared their negative experience with their colleagues before officially handing in their resignation, and they may have given them a detailed reason as to why they’re leaving. Nip this is the bud and call a thing a thing in an email and discussion addressing their departure.

Join the movement - recognise, recognise, oh yes I almost forgot, and recognise! 

The question I asked in my previous blog was – When was the last time you were asked by leadership how's it going? - No, not your work day, or tasks that you have to complete, but how are you doing, how are you feeling today and how're things for you on a personal level? We seem to have lost that ever so important human touch! Please see the link to my previous blog here - https://bit.ly/2ws9NpM

My best,

Warren Carvér – Head of Talent, People & Culture at emagine Consulting.

P.S keep an eye out for more blog posts around Talent Acquisition Strategy, Employee Engagement & Retention, Company Culture, Diversity & Inclusion + Equality within the work place.