Recognition is the Fuel Your Team Needs Right Now

4 ways to implement recognition practices at your small to mid-sized business

Amid the tail end (maybe, please let it be!) of COVID and the current inflation, and gas prices that soared to nearly $6.00 per gallon, I hear daily from employees who just feel ... hopeless. 

While, yes, it’s important to recognize your role as a manager or employer –– let’s be honest, you’re not going to solve the gas crisis –– infusing hope and appreciation for who and what is occurring at your workplace is your job. Period.

Too many people take on the role of “manager” but forget to dedicate time in their week to perform the functions of a manager. It’s not for the faint of heart, and neither is it for someone who considered it one of many things on their list. The best managers make managing a top priority. A huge part of that is recognition and gratitude of your team members.

Why is gratitude important?

Karl Sun shares in his Forbes article that “Gratitude is a basic human requirement — and since we spend most of our waking hours at the office, giving and receiving thanks at work becomes pretty important.” 

Think about this, when someone gives you authentic gratitude for the work that you do, the person you are, the qualities that you uniquely bring to the team, doesn’t it reaffirm that you are in unequivocally in the right job? “Thanks for being you”, or “We appreciate you for what you bring to our team”. It snaps alignment and employee engagement into place.

In fact, WorkHuman tells us that when employees feel authentically recognized at work they are 73% less likely to feel burned out, 4 times as likely to be engaged at work, and 5 times more likely to be engaged with the culture! 

Here are 4 ways you can implement recognition for your team:

1. Start a weekly gratitude practice of appreciating the people on your team. Make a habit of sending emails weekly to people on your team who you appreciate. If you have a larger team, ask your direct reports who on their team deserves recognition. This looks like, “Estelle, your manager Clara told me about the big speaking engagement you had last week. It sounds like you were brilliant at the convention breakout session and gathered several viable connections. I knew you would shine on stage. Well done!”

Gratitude formula: 

Send gratitude via email, Slack, or through a system like Officevibe’s “Good Vibes” tool. Be specific and timely about what you appreciate about the team member.

2. Make gratitude part of your weekly team meeting. Kick off the beginning of your all-staff or all-team meeting with a collective sharing of recognition. Spend 5-8 minutes at the beginning of your in-person or virtual meeting sharing recognition. As a leader, you want to be prepared with 1-2 to kick it off, then turn it other to others to join in.

3. Focus on what’s going right. Too, too often, we get sucked into constructive feedback and fail to focus on what’s actually going right. John Gottman’s research teaches us that in workplaces, to maintain a healthy relationship, we need a 3:1 ratio of positive to constructive interactions. If all you’re dishing out is constructive feedback, you have to assume that your relationship with your direct reports and peers is not good. 

This does not mean that you ignore constructive feedback but when you find yourself doling out negative feedback repeatedly, pause and do a reset.

4. Establish a gratitude wall in your office, perhaps the entryway or break room? Supply vibrant sticky notes and Sharpies and let your team contribute to a culture of appreciation. Pro-tip: set a few rules for your Gratitude Wall, including a timeframe that the wall will be ‘up’. Also start the will with a few of your own sticky note pieces of gratitude.

In the end, fostering gratitude and recognition among your team is a key management skill of any fabulous manager --- but ironically never shows up as a “requirement” on a job description.

If you want to lean into your role as a great manager, I’m here to help. Join me for my next Manager Training Series cohort to gain the skills, tools and inspiration to thrive as a manager.