Declare a "Get- Over-Yourself" Week

Give your employees a little recognition

We hear a lot from the workplace research nerds that personal recognition of accomplishments and involvement is a key driver of employee engagement. (See Gallup.) I am not talking about the kind of recognition that gives the best parking space to the top seller. The focus here is on the one-to-one, two- minute, personal kind of conversation. You know, the take-a-moment-and-say-something – meaningful-even-if-it-is-awkward kind of recognition.

We also hear that these engaged employees are more likely to stay and be productive. Somewhere embedded in this conversation is the assumption that, as employee engagement improves, so does our productivity and profits. Also embedded in this conversation is the assumption that I might personally get something out of this: usually a pretty good motivator. And thus, we back through the formula: Better Recognition = Greater Engagement = Improved Productivity = Increased Profits = We make more money! Wee Hoo!

Somehow, this doesn’t always change our behavior. Where is Pavlov when you need him?

My experience is that supervisors and managers often have a long list of logical and convincing reasons why they don’t improve their pattern of recognizing employees. Here are a few:

• NO TIME
• AWKWARDNESS
• IF I START NOW THEY WILL THINK I HAVE A HIDDEN AGENDA
• I DON’T NEED ATTENTION AND APPRECIATION, WHY SHOULD THEY?
• WE HAVE PROGRAMS THAT TAKE CARE OF THIS
• I AM SAVING UP FOR A REALLY BIG ACCOMPLISHMENT
• THEY ARE JUST DOING WHAT THEY WERE HIRED TO DO
• INSERT YOUR FAVORITE EXCUSE HERE

We could deconstruct all of these, but that would just encourage a circular debate-something in which we are probably not interested. There seems to be something that goes on for many of us that steer us away from giving meaningful recognition.

What if we said that for one week there were NO EXCUSES? We’ll call it “Get-Over-Yourself” Week. Find something someone did that was cool and tell them about it, immediately and specifically. Tell them how it has made a difference to us and the company. Give them a little gift; you are likely to get a lot back.

If you wish, you can then go back next week to your non-recognition fears and rationalizations.