Recognition seems simple - and indeed, the best recognition is often a simple gesture - but [Make Their Day] shows it takes planning and thought to develop an effective recognition program...Ms. Ventrice leads you through the issues in a clear fashion, and offers many examples of innovative techniques that you can borrow. Globe and Mail

Seven Tips for Creating an Employee Recognition Program that Works!

  1. Get Commitment from the Leadership of Your Organization. When your management team both supports and leads your employee recognition program, success skyrockets. Can you sell your executives on both the need for recognition and the need for their continued involvement? To do so, you need to speak their language. Can you demonstrate how employee recognition aligns with their organizational strategies and provides a sound return on their investment? You need to.
     
  2. Get Manager Buy In. Unless you are satisfied with mediocre results, you need to show managers and supervisors why they should get (and stay) involved. Do you know how to communicate the WIIFM (What's In It For the Manager)? Managers are time-crunched more than ever. Show them how recognition helps create a more loyal workforce and you will show them how to free up more time.
     
  3. Help Managers Understand their Role in Providing Effective Recognition. Managers who know how to provide  effective employee recognition can make your program a resounding success. Managers who fail to "get it" can make your program a deafening failure. Ensure that the recognition your managers offer is effective and not counter-productive.

    Will your managers help or hinder your employee recognition efforts? Recognition Strategies that Work provides a 15-week study guide that will provide managers with the skills and habits that they need to provide meaningful recognition.
     
  4. Identify the hot buttons. For the best use of your resources you want to make sure you are targeting the real issues within your organization and addressing the unique recognition needs and preferences of your employees.. Review organizational goals and strategies. Talk to executives. Use surveys, 360s, focus groups, and even exit interviews to target your program.
     
  5. Expand Your Perspective Before You Design. All employee recognition programs are not created equal. You need to ask what type of program will best meet your current needs. You need to give consideration to how you will ensure that the program is perceived as fair. Ask: How will we know if we have met our program objectives? Great questions lead to great programs that produce great results.
     
  6. Create an Action Plan for Implementation. Outline, timeline, bottom-line. Details. Details. Details. Wouldn't it be great if every detail was worked out ahead of time? A successful employee recognition program requires a detailed project plan, complete with assigned roles and responsibilities.
     
  7. Achieving and Maintaining Momentum - the Snowball Effect. Will you have strategies in place to reach critical mass (or the tipping point) for success before your initiative loses momentum?  Target your employee recognition efforts on your immediate and potential supporters. Highlight success. Refresh and re-energize regularly.
     

"I enjoyed your presentation at the HRPAO conference in Toronto [Strategies for Implementing a Successful Company-wide Recognition Program]. Ironically, I wish I had seen it the year prior as I made some of the mistakes you discussed when recently implementing an employee recognition program. Oh well... I now feel better about moving forward!"
            - Barbara Young, Director of Human Resources, Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine


Need Help Designing/Implementing/Fixing an Employee Recognition Program?

Stop wasting money on employee recognition programs that don't work!

            Learn more about our upcoming Teleseminar series: click here

Great employee recognition programs build loyalty. Yet billions are wasted every year on programs that fail. Do you have a strategy for providing meaningful, cost-effective employee recognition?


 Interested in learning more about Creating Recognition Programs that Work? Learn more : click here

 

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