Recognition Is Not Hard; Try it!

Why do so few leaders recognize their people? It's not hard to do; try it some day! I was reminded this week by a presenter in a webinar about the importance of recognizing individuals. All too often we hear, "Why would I thank them? They were just doing their job!".

RCMP Corporal Deepak Prasad brought up the best rebuttal to a boss that says this. Deepak suggests asking ask the person, "Do you cheer for players on your favourite sports team when they score points? Why? They are paid a lot of money to score those points; they are just their job".

I once worked for a service that would forward thank you notes from citizens that we interacted with on a call for service. Often these notes, cards and letters were accompanied by an at-a-boy/girl letter from the Superintendent or higher. One day a senior "leader" in this service sent out a memo advising staff that due to costs HQ would no longer be sending these thank yous out; instead they would just place them in our HR files. So, unless you went to HR to review your file you would never see these thank yous. Responders hear the negative from the public way too much; seeing the odd thank you from them means a lot.

This same service later hired a consultant to help us to set up an employee recognition program. I was a part of that initial committee and during our introductions, where we were to comment on our expectations or thoughts on this new initiative, I said "The simple fact that we had to hire someone to show us how to recognize our staff speaks volumes to our organization and culture!" The HR lead in the group did not like my comments however, she disliked the fact that I pointed out that employees had to request their years of service certificates and pins as her team could not keep track of these even more. If her HR team could not track our hire dates and anniversaries who could?

Years later I was a part of another service that also lacked any official recognition program. I was asked to help out with a committee there too (apparently they never checked with my past HR person on her opinion). After asking many times about a budget and being told by the COO not to worry, I had put together a full program plan. This plan included everything from drafted form thank you letters to full awards for various categories. After months of stale movement I asked what was going on with the plan. The reply from the COO, "While we appreciate your hard work, due to the current fiscal situation we cannot support this at this time". Seriously? Fiscal issues? Most of what I had in place were letters and paper certificates; pennies to produce. A couple years later, when this organization was going through its first attempt at accreditation lo and behold the recognition plan made it to the evaluator's hands...

We cannot recognize our people enough. From a verbal thank you to the odd buying of coffee or doughnuts it's not hard. I was a part of Unified Command during a civil unrest incident one evening. I had several units redeployed to my incident from various parts of the city. It was a rough evening into the night and these men and women held fast! Days later I ensured, as I always did, to write them at-a-boy/girl letters; simply thanking them for their hard work and professional dedication to those we serve. A week after sending these out I received a call from one of the members. He let me know that he had just received my letter. His voice was broken as he was obviously emotional. I was concerned that this letter had triggered some emotions about the incident (yes they were all offered EAP support post incident). Instead, he was so appreciative for the thank you. He said that in his over 25 years of service no leader had ever thanked him for his actions. An important point here is this individual was an exemplary employee. Mention his name to anyone and they all agreed that he was amazing. Yet, he was just doing his job.

Often leaders are quick to address the allegations of poor performance. But why not put effort into the thank yous? Of course allegations need to be looked into but we can all take the time to recognize our people. I would often set time aside on my Friday's to write at-a-boy/girl letters or hand out coffee cards. That not only made the staff happy but I ended my week on a high note.

We all have amazing people working with us. It is incumbent on leaders to recognize them for their service. A simple thank you goes a long way to employee engagement. Recognition Is Not Hard; Try it!