Leadership First: The skinny on employee recognition

Dear G. M.: No. 1, make certain that your performance goals are clear to everyone who is held accountable. Try this litmus test: Gather your staff in the conference room and ask them to write down and rank their top three goals. This will tell you whether they really know what the goals are and whether the priorities you have set on those goals aligns with their own sense of priority.

No. 2, decide how often you will review progress on goals and establish regularly scheduled reviews. This sends the message that reaching performance goals is important to you.

No. 3, determine what “decision-making authority rights” you will assign to your employee. Why? Because this one factor will largely determine how engaged your employee will be and whether or not they will hit the goal. The best approach is to give the employee as much autonomy and control as you can allow.

No. 4, set your budget. Consider these factors: (a) Match your reward level to the impact the goal can have on your financials. (b) If the reward can’t be sustained annually, make it clear that this is a one-time incentive. (c) Determine whether your employee is risk-averse. Do not design remuneration that asks employees to take risks against larger future gains, if their nature is to want guaranteed compensation.

Dear Mark: How do you reward employees in a challenging business environment that is largely restricted to nonmonetary recognition? —L.B.

Dear L.B.: At the risk of reading the tone between the lines, I would guess that the organization is likely experiencing levels of low morale, turnover or employee disengagement. I offer the following advice to help create a more rewarding work environment, but caution you that there may be deeper issues which effective recognition can only slightly salve, not solve:

No.1, get really good at expressing appreciation for worker efforts. Buy a stack of thank-you cards and write notes recognizing employees.

No. 2, spend more time one-to-one with employees thanking them for their work. Just a quick “thank you” means a lot to employees because you took the time to notice and say something.

No. 3, open up dialogue about work-related issues or challenges that concern employees. Every few weeks, sit down and engage the employees in discussions about their work, including some possible actions you and employees might take to make things better.

No. 4, get a budget. Any organization can scrape together $100 or $200 to give out small yet meaningful recognition. Ask employees for things they would like that cost less than $25.

Dear Mark: If a manager does not do well on the praise/recognition portion of employee surveys, how do you deal with the manager? —J.W.

Dear J.W.: Be sure you do not make the mistake of failing to deal decisively enough with a manager’s deficiency in this key area. Not confronting this manager only exacerbates employee performance problems, lowers morale and engagement, negatively impacts customer satisfaction and may increase turnover. Some possible actions:

No. 1, find out why the manager is being rated poorly by doing follow-up employee interviews or anonymous surveys. You may need to call in outside help.

No. 2, engage the manager, asking why they think their employee scores are so low in this area. They likely know it is a problem but don’t know how to correct it.

No. 3, develop a plan of action with the manager. Set clear goals for progress along with a specific timeline for re-testing. I recommend a one-year timeline for the most challenging cases, meetings monthly with a trained coach or qualified mentor, and measure improvement quarterly. Recognition is a skill any manager can learn.

Springfield-based consultant Mark Holmes speaks nationally on increasing employee and customer retention and improving employee performance. His ideas have been featured in the Wall Street Journal and on Fox Business Network. He can be reached at mholmes@thepeoplekeeper.com.

Workplace Solutions

These questions were generated during the May 2 Leadership First Friday on the book, “The Carrot Principle.”

Join in on workplace conversations with Mark Holmes during monthly Leadership First Friday lunch discussions covering workplace topics and business books. The next Leadership First Friday – 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. June 6 at Great Southern Bank’s Operations Center, 218 S. Glenstone Ave. – covers “The Celebrity Experience: Insider Secrets To Delivering Red Carpet Service.”

Send your workplace questions to sbj@sbj.net, and purchase luncheon tickets at sbj.net or call (417) 831-3238.

Coffeehouse Study

Mark Holmes is conducting a survey of workers between 21 and 30 years old to help employers create fun and rewarding jobs. If you qualify, you may take the survey at www.coffeehousestudy.com.

Holmes calls these individuals the Coffeehouse Generation, and he also would like to conduct focus group interviews of qualified candidates. Interested individuals may e-mail mholmes@thepeoplekeeper.com.[[In-content Ad]]