My guilty pleasure is gossip and entertainment news. It’s not as bad as watching Honey Boo-Boo, but I have hidden my gossip magazine behind HBJ on business flights.
Charlie Sheen gave Lindsey Lohan $100K out of the kindness of his “heart”. He felt emphatic to her since they worked together on the blockbuster film, Scary Movie 5. Lindsay has her share of problems with law enforcement, federal government, and sadly many other areas of her life (drugs, alcohol).
Sheen was on the radio the other day and when asked if Lindsay thanked him, he replied: “She’s a very good and decent young lady that is just going through a lot. I’m still waiting for a text to say ‘thank you.’ Anything, you know?”*
Is Sheen teaching us about recognition? No. Charlie Sheen is reminding us of manners. That is honest, thought-provoking, and surprising at the same time. For a celebrity who does massive amounts of drugs, they clearly have not effected his politeness.
We talk about recognition a lot with our clients. Recognition is when someone recognizes you for an “above and beyond” performance. Recognition should NOT be confused with thank you. Thank you is being polite-it’s not and never should be recognition. Recognition is easy to do, but often overlooked for the following reasons:
- People can be uncomfortable giving and receiving recognition
- Recognition is assumed (shouldn’t everyone go above and beyond)
- If I recognize someone, I have to recognize everyone and it becomes disingenuous
Sound familiar? We understand. We wouldn’t be EEG if we did not share some recognition suggestions:
Recognition Must be Related to an Outcome: It should not be “someone’s turn”. What project did they win? What goals did they excel? What performance metrics did they blow out of the water? Did they work an entire weekend to help meet a deadline? Trophies are not for losers.
Make It Consistent: Ever walk into a restaurant and the last recognized employee was in 1989? If you create it like a program, it will be treated like a program and will fail. Deliver consistently, and if no one earned it-that is OK. Announce you are waiting for the next quarter, time period in which you recognize. Want an easy way to remember? Add “Recognize Someone” to your Outlook calendar. It can be a colleague, client, boss, spouse, partner-create a pathway to assist you with recognition.
Is Recognition Available to Everyone? Don’t give trophies to the losers-but does everyone has the opportunity to participate in goals that can be recognized?
Is it Valued by Employees? We had one client run a simple 5 question survey to this team (what do you like to do in your time off? Do you like certain sports teams? What are you hobbies?). He knew how to recognize someone in a way that would be valued. If you have a huge organization, you cannot go wrong with appropriate gift cards (American Express, restaurants, coffee shops, etc).
Do You Know How Your Employees Like to Be Recognized? Not everyone wants to be thanked in public-it makes them uncomfortable. Other feel slighted if you recognize them without an audience (their team, manager, etc). It’s simple: Ask them, “When you have earned recognition for your work, do you prefer public or private?” You could be giving an employee a panic attack, while assuming you are an awesome boss for announcing their accomplishments and recognition.
Steph. Mello,VPE
