Employee Recognition - Build Bridges not Walls

Regular, one-on-one assessments with your staff provide an efficient two-way forum with which to set and review realistic achievement targets, provide feedback on performance, and listen to and consider any problems employees may have. For example, a sales executive may feel that he or she is under performing, when in fact sales targets have been set too high. During the appraisal, these targets could be reviewed and set at more realistic levels. After the goals have been met and the targets achieved, it is just and fair to recognise your employees effort in doing their best.

1. Why Employee Recognition?
This is where employee recognition takes centre stage. Through employee recognition, you give your staff the reason to go on, push a little harder, and achieve their dreams as well. You can do this by giving them better opportunities to prove themselves worthy of the job you gave them. Giving people new or better jobs shows that you recognize their achievements and encourages them to achieve further success. Rewarding exceptional performance also inspires colleagues to improve their contribution in the workplace. All of these boil down to the point that employee recognition is, indeed, a vital element in the company’s success.

2. Planned Employee Recognition
As its name implies, planned recognition is more of a pre-coordinated plan. Because of its frequency, the event may not necessarily be formal. Under this category, the most common employee recognition awards are customer service, attendance, outstanding achievements, employee of the month, productivity, and safety.

3. Immediate Employee Recognition
This method of employee recognition renders acknowledgement at any point in time for exhibition of the principles and ideals being upheld by the company and their role in achieving the targets and goals of the establishment. The company or management may award an employee recognition particularly upon a commendable effort, solidarity, accomplishment of an exclusive project, acquisition of a new company procedure, or simply expressing indebtedness to the employee for making such effort.

4. Formal Employee Recognition
This type of employee recognition is done annually. Because of its formality, the event showcases a very glamorous and prestigious ceremony. This type of employee recognition renders acknowledgement on the total and outstanding performance of an employee. The award itself is so special that every employee aims to achieve it. These are sometimes known as company awards, the high achievers club, etc. In this type of employee recognition, the most common awards are centred on the employee or the department’s outstanding and remarkable performance. This refers to an exceptional work that an employee was able to accomplish in spite of its level of difficulty. The company should, however, bear in mind that employee recognition does not simply mean that it is the right thing to do since your employee has done such merit.

5. The Reasoning
The main purpose of employee recognition is to build bridges among people, to establish communication, and to acknowledge the value of each employee in establishing the success of the whole organization. Moreover, employee recognition is utmost appreciated if the event is timely and is done at a more public gathering. In this way, the impression is more intense. Consequently, the employee recognition should delve more on the effort of the employee to accomplish tasks and not on the result itself. Research has shown that by giving equal weight to the employee’s intellectual, emotional, and psychological needs through employee recognition, the commitment of the staff is increased and therefore productivity increased.

Employees must also remember that:-

- Employee recognition should not be expected
- It does not translate to an instant promotion
- It may not result in any additional monetary compensation
- Is best perceived as a gift
- The main purpose of employee recognition is to positively motivate the group.

Like to know how Leadership and Management Solutions can assist your business?  Visit our website www.leadershipmanagementsolutions.com.au

Succession Planning Myths - separating fact from fiction.

Here are some of the most common myths about succession planning.

Myth #1: If there are no imminent retirements, succession planning needn’t be a top priority.
According to industry research, many organisations will lose up to 25% of their senior staff due to retirements in the next five years.. These top performers play a significant role in a company’s success, often serving in high-level, supervisory roles. For successions to progress smoothly, the people chosen to fill these roles need to be prepared and adequately trained. That process takes time. 

Myth #2: Succession planning is only an issue for big companies.
85 to 95 percent of all the companies in Australia today — more than 10 million – are family-owned or family-controlled. The smaller the business, the greater the impact is felt from a replaced employee.  This is especially true of any employee succession in a sales or operations leadership role, as a poor month or two can mean disaster for a small company. Small companies need to plan early and invest in the training necessary to help the new or promoted employee succeed. For smaller companies, this may mean researching outside learning opportunities and setting aside a budget to cover them.

Myth #3: There need only be a succession plan for C-level team members.
During difficult economic times,  Manager and director-level professionals have been asked to take on more duties than ever before. As such, it is important to look at a cross-section of departments to ensure proper succession plans are in place for each division.

Myth #4: Succession planning should be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Continuity works best. Allowing each department to come up with its own unique process for succession planning, can be a troublesome and time-consuming endeavor. Organisations, instead, should create a company-wide process that could then be used by each individual department.  

Myth #5: Good talent is easy to spot.
As an employee moves up the corporate ladder, soft skills become more necessary and valuable components of success – management skills, emotional intelligence, leadership ability, and so forth. However, these skills can be difficult to quantify. To spot and cultivate employees with these skills, an organization needs an instrument to help measure and assess talent. Talent assessment needs to be a critical part of your succession planning process.

Myth #6: Succession planning only pertains to baby boomers.
It's not only the Gen Y's that are job mobile.  This means that your top performers may be leaving sooner than you imagine. As such, it’s important to think about succession planning – not as a one-time effort – but as an ongoing process to continually grow and develop your organisation.


If you would like further information on how we can assist with your HR capability needs, please visit our website www.leadershipmanagementsolutions.com.au