High-value, low-cost staff recognition tips

Nelson Scott is a speaker, consultant and author. In Thanks! GREAT Job! Improve Retention, Boost Morale and Increase Engagement with High- Value, Low-Cost Staff Recognition, he identifies the five ingredients of meaningful staff recognition, which must be Genuine and should be Relevant, Explicit, Appropriate and Timely. In our Practice Management Nugget interview, Nelson shared some additional nuggets that you can use right away.

What is Nelson’s #1 Tip to recognize staff? Be sincere and genuine.

Be sincere and genuine in the way that we provide recognition – and provide frequent recognition or praise for doing good work. Make recognition a daily habit.

What is staff recognition?

Staff recognition is not awards, incentives or team building. Staff recognition is “Recognition is an after-the-fact display of appreciation or acknowledgment of an individual's or team's desired behavior, effort, or business result that supports the organization's goals and values.” (Source: Recognition Professionals International (www.recognition.org). Staff recognition happens spontaneously – when we observe someone doing something that we want to reinforce.

Who’s job is responsible for staff recognition?

Staff recognition can come from managers but when a colleague recognizes good work it is often more meaningful. Recognition can also come from clients, customers, and visitors. Empower yourself to recognize good work and good attitude of your co-workers even if it is not in your job description.

Nelson suggests that we make the third Tuesday of each month as “Peer Recognition Day.” There are many ways to provide staff recognition – variety is the spice of staff recognition. Thank you notes are an important and useful tool – but don’t limit your recognition to only thank you notes. Nelson provides a wide variety of tools and suggestions that you can review to find an approach that fits well in your organization, your culture, your personal ‘style’ and is meaningful to the recipient.

Recognition focuses on what the person has done and how it is relevant to our business goals. It takes practice to get really good at this and make staff recognition a daily habit. Let Nelson help you with resources that you can use right away!