The Gift Your Employees Actually Want
End-of-year is often a time to reflect, give feedback, and offer appreciation. Indeed, many of our client companies are wrapping up annual reviews or paying out bonuses.
⠀
But while an annual bonus or gift is seldom unwelcome, to truly show teams they are appreciated, the most successful organizations give employees recognition throughout the year and in less-tangible ways.
Doing so shows that you care, makes your people feel meaningfully valued, and creates a culture of high performance.
Consider the opposing scenario: a culture in which poor performance goes unaddressed, work done well feels ignored, and employees have Glassdoor bookmarked in their browsers.
A grim picture, of course. But like so many negative things, no one sets out to deliberately handle staff recognition poorly. Rather, leaders get busy with other things, many lack the tools to have effective feedback conversations, and norms of annual or semi-annual reviews (with little dialogue in between) persist.
To get the most from review processes, open, thoughtful communication must be a part of the culture year round.
To that end, here are three ways to show your people you value them and improve performance along the way:
Tap into intrinsic motivation. Instead of "Here's a task for this week", try "I'd value your help in solving this challenge. You have an innate ability to look at disparate parts and see the common threads. How would you feel about taking the lead on this?"⠀
⠀
Offer detailed, specific praise. Instead of "Great job!" try "Your presentation on our work was excellent. You captured all the details and presented the team in the best possible light. It made me proud to have hired you."⠀(Don't skip this - in a recent study we did of empowerment at work, “failing to receive positive feedback/encouragement” was cited as the number one reason people didn’t feel empowered in their roles.)
⠀
Check in often and communicate openly. Don't save your feedback for the annual review - establish and maintain an open dialogue. All the better if it's reciprocal and you solicit and act on feedback yourself.⠀
Every organization, team, and individual are different - we get to know you and yours and tailor an approach accordingly. Talk to us to learn more.