choosing an employee recognition partner?10 years later ...

Ten years ago in 2002, the Winter Olympic Games were held in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Euro was being issued for the first time, ?American Idol? debuted on television, and the movie ?Chicago? won the Academy Award for best picture. So what was happening with employee recognition programs?

At the time, I was?serving as President of the National Association for Employee Recognition (NAER)?an organization that has since expanded its reach and changed its name to Recognition Professionals International (RPI). The group?s mission is to enhance organizational performance through employee recognition. As President, I was asked to identify the key criteria for selecting an employee?recognition partner.?I felt there were four critical components: administration, awards, communication, and presentation. While these components haven?t changed, they certainly have evolved over the past ten years.

Ten years ago, service awards were the main focus of a company?s formal recognition strategy.? Finding a partner was mostly about outsourcing recognition transactions?a supplier who could receive a data file and notify an employee who was eligible to receive an award.

Recognition as a business practice has become exponentially more sophisticated. Beyond just creating memorable experiences, employee recognition has earned its place on boardroom agendas for creating business-driven cultures. Today, clients are looking not only for great awards but they also want a recognition partner who can recommend and develop a program strategy, provide change to?management support, and impact cultural and business results. Web-based systems and other technology has become the norm for on-the-spot recognition, nomination-based performance recognition, goal or metric based recognition, and of course career achievement recognition.

Awards are still a critical part of a successful recognition experience. As recognition strategies have evolved to include multiple programs, organizations would do well to carefully create a deliberate award strategy. ?As I work with clients in this regard, I often talk about getting ?the right awards in the right programs.? For example, symbolic awards that have some sort of trophy value are better suited for some types of recognition than others. Sometimes lifestyle merchandise, gift cards, or cash might make sense. The key is to consider the lasting impact you?d like the award to have on the person being recognized?not just asking the question, ?What do people want??; rather, considering ?what will create the most memorable recognition experiences??

Recognition communication has also become much more sophisticated. In the past, program communication was limited mainly to the direct individual being recognized for a specific accomplishment. Today, the best recognition partners will help build a communication strategy that will define program criteria, encourage ongoing participation, provide opportunities to celebrate successes, and tie recognition strategy to organizational brand, values, and goals. It?s not only about creating moments between an employee and his or her manager, but also about extending those moments to include work peers, customers, families and social circles of those being recognized. An organization that has a great reputation of appreciating employees in a sincere and consistent manner typically has no problem attracting and retaining talent.

Finally, research continues to suggest that the key to overall program satisfaction is greatly affected by the sincerity, frequency, and timeliness of recognition experiences. Ten years ago we knew that a bad presentation by a manager could ruin the recognition experience. I think this is one area that hasn?t evolved as rapidly since 2002. Despite ample research over the past decade that proves the impact of great recognition, many managers still don?t know how to fully leverage recognition moments. To build truly effective recognition cultures, organizations need to incorporate recognition training into standard leader development curricula. The need for formal training to help managers understand their role in creating the recognition experience is absolutely essential.

So, as I reflect on the past ten years, I realize that even though employee recognition deliverables have reached new levels of sophistication, the fundamentals haven?t deviated much. I?m excited to see how things will evolve over the next ten years. While I?m sure there will be enhancements to program administration, awards, communication, and presentation tools, I?m confident that one thing will remain the same; the need we all?have to be recognized and appreciated for doing great work!

Source: http://www.octanner.com/blog/2012/09/choosing-an-employee-recognition-partner/

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