Recognition Is The Reward of Culture

“Recognition is not a scarce resource. You can’t use it up or run out of it.” Susan M. Heathfield

One of my colleague years back taught me a valuable lesson that stayed with me. She said, “Whatever you appreciate appreciates.” As simple as that sounded, it changed how I approach working with people. Entrepreneur.com found out that 82% of employees don’t receive enough recognition.

Here is how it works in most companies: an employee invests his time and heart into a project to produce great results for the company with someone taking the credit for the success or with it going unnoticed and unrecognized. They may do nine good things and no one recognized them, but for one thing they do wrong, a mistake they make trying to make things work, they get punished.

“There are two things people want more than sex and money…recognition and praise.” Mary Kay Ash

?People are hungry for recognition and appreciation than they are for pay check. You can pay people top dollar but if they don’t feel appreciated at work, they will most like quit or become unengaged. According to Forbes in 2013, 43% of employees say they quit their jobs over lack of recognition.

Just as oxygen is to the lungs and blood is to heart, so appreciation and recognition is to self-esteem. When you have a workplace where people are not seen and treated as humans but as functions or machines, people don’t get appreciated. The Truly Human Culture Playbook helps employers, leaders and managers realize how much appreciation can impact employee morale and engagement.

If you want an enthusiastic team, you need to become generous with appreciation and recognition. This is the best reward you can give your people. It isn’t the gift or bonuses you give that matters but the fact that you recognize them. The reward is the recognition and appreciation. When you appreciate your people, they feel like a million dollar and the way they work appreciates. Its natural with humans.

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

One of the tools we develop for creating a portfolio of behavior is the appreciation-reward matrix. When you recognize and reward a certain behavior you build that behavior into your portfolio. Every employee will want to perform that behavior because they want to be recognized for doing that. Eventually that behavior becomes natural to them. The behavior that gets recognized gets reinforced, and when a behavior gets reinforced, it gets repeated and becomes a habit.

If you are not recognizing your employees for the good they are doing and the value they are bringing to the table, you are taking them for granted. In Nigeria, we believe that when you praise people, it will get to their head and they will stop doing the things they are doing. As such in most Nigerians companies’ people are hardly praised and recognized. The believe is that they are paid for what they do.

1. Stingy with Money and Recognition: You won’t find people fully engaged in a company that is stingy with money and recognition. Turnover is high in this company. People use it as a transit place to gain experience and get a better job. Those who stay don’t have any option and don’t give it their best.

2. Generous with Money, Stingy with Recognition: Companies that are generous with money only meet the basic needs of their employees. Recognition meets the needs of self-esteem. People will be partially engaged when their work meets their survival needs but not their self-esteem needs.

3. Stingy with Money, Generous with Recognition: People can endure and make sacrifice to work for an employer who recognizes them but doesn’t pay them well. They may appreciate the employer; however, they won’t trust and believe the employer. They will be skeptical. They will love to come to work but will certainly look for other means to earn more. Employers must first make sure that the basic needs are met while they meet self-esteem needs. This can make employers manipulate and use their employees.

4. Generous with Money and Recognition: Companies that have leaders who are generous with money, praise, appreciation and recognition have fully engaged employees. People don’t feel taken for granted. They feel accepted and feel at home. They love coming to work and spending more time at work. They go home happy and fulfilled and spread happiness at home.

“A boss wants to pay for results, an employee wants recognition for effort. If a boss recognizes effort, they will get even better results.” Simon Sinek

Recognition is its reward. People go where they are appreciated and praised for the good they do. If you don’t create a workplace where people feel appreciated for what they do, praised for their contribution and recognized for the way they act to build the company, they won’t do great work.