This
is a complete reprint of a blog post written by a friend of mine, Paul Hebert,
the Senior Director of Solutions Architecture at Creative Group, writer, speaker and consultant. Paul is widely considered an expert on motivation,
incentives, and engagement.
While it was written over five years
ago, the message is just as meaningful (if not more so) today. We hope you enjoy it.
The blogosphere is full to the
brim with studies, research, tea leaves and astrology charts that say employee
engagement drives business success and that recognition drives
engagement. It is the siren’s call of 2011 and beyond. Almost every
HR person I talk with has engagement in one form or another on their to-do
list. In many cases it is about finding the “platform” to run their
employee rewards program.
And there is no scarcity of
platforms. The ubiquity of technology now means any plaque seller and
koozie-monger can be in the business of providing peer-2-peer programs and
service anniversary programs. It’s just not that hard to find someone to
run a program any more.
DISTINCTIONS WITHOUT DIFFERENCES
Sure the platforms differ.
The color of the bars differ. Some of the reporting can be pretty darn
amazing. But at the end of the day you have an automated system that
allows managers and peers to send notes, cards and wall posts highlighting what
Suzy and Frank did yesterday that made a difference in some other employee’s
life.
Don’t get me wrong. This
is mission critical stuff. I believe it is REQUIRED in today’s organization to find a way to let people
know they are valued and their work matters.
WHERE’S THE HUMAN?
But the questions that plague me
are:
- · When a system removes all the friction – making it drop-dead simple to recognize someone does the recognition lose some of its value (not all of it – just some)?
- · When a login page of a company intranet looks like the “gold star” chart from a first-grade classroom does it simply become wallpaper without any focus?
- · When employees see recognition events for trivial performance do they start to think exceptional performance gets lost?
- · Does the platform become the focus instead of the people?
I ask these questions because I
see it happen in other places when effort is reduced and the value goes right
with it. When someone can mow your lawn in 20 minutes on a riding mower
they end up charging less and we think it is a commodity. When the
internet at 30,000 feet on a plane is the norm – being disconnected while in
the bathroom becomes a capital offense. They become utilities – not
unusual.
I wonder if all of this focus on
the technology to drive easier, more ubiquitous recognition is creating a void
between “commodity recognition” and “real recognition?”
When my boss used to write a
letter that went in my personnel file (that would be back in the 1900’s) I was
impressed. So was everyone else. But is anyone impressed with 162
“Kudo’s” on your intranet wall from Jimmy in the mail room?
TRAINING IS KEY
I think about these things
because even if you find the platform and don’t communicate how to do
recognition right – how to make it HUMAN –
you really haven’t helped your company. Sure you’ve checked the box and
you have a program. But do you have engagement?
Do you have a sustainable system
that grows with the expectations of the recipient? Do your managers and
their managers understand that making something easy may actually make it less
valuable?
Train your people on recognition
and its many forms – from the easy to the hard.
Train them to make it human –
make it more than the platform, more than the points and more than the plaque.
For
more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services or other white
papers please contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net
