How to Successfully Build YOUR Winning Culture of Recognition

Recognize This! – Recognition programs are owned by HR. A recognition culture is owned by everyone.

Last week I had the honor and pleasure of leading two “Build Your Winning Culture of Recognition” workshops in Atlanta and New York City. In both workshops, it was clear people have a great desire to discuss employee recognition — especially to share with and learn from their peers from other organizations and industries. I owe all participants a tremendous “Thank You!” for their generosity in sharing their experiences, knowledge, and concerns with everyone, making each workshop truly relevant.

A common theme through both workshops was participants sharing their own practices and learning new best practices to implement in their organizations. The power of creating a true culture of recognition also resonated with numerous proof points around proven double-digit increases in employee engagement.

Another frequent point of conversation during the workshops centered on: “We’ve got a lot of those elements you’re discussing in our programs, but we don’t see the same results. Why?” This led to productive discussions around perhaps having the recognition “cogs, levers and wheels” so to speak, but needing to ask: “Have you got the right calibration of these for best results?”

For example, do you have strong executive support? Are you generating the right level of recognition across your organization on a weekly basis in order to achieve your annual goals and a true culture of recognition? Are you using Social and Mobile Recognition?  Do you have a recognition dashboard showing program impact in real time?  Is your management team focused on the impact of your company culture and the dissemination of your core values into the daily work of all employees? Or is your recognition program reporting only about how many toasters were redeemed last month?

Of course, company culture was also a central theme. We discussed at length whether a culture comes about by accident or if it can be deliberately created and managed. We uncovered how global strategic recognition is a powerful method to do just that, and especially focused on how a true culture of recognition is something that becomes owned by EVERYONE and not just HR!

I was most flattered to have participants tell me they appreciated the educational value and format of the workshop. Many left with a changed perspective on recognition, seeing it as an underutilized tool for HR, yet a tool they see could be more powerful if better deployed, and a more strategic contributor to HR and the business overall.

If all this sounds interesting to you, you still have two more opportunities to join me and your peers to “Build Your Winning Culture of Recognition.” Register today for workshops in:

  • Chicago, IL: Monday, Nov 14, 2011
  • San Francisco, CA: Thursday, Nov 17, 2011

Blog readers, be sure to use registration code RECOGNIZETHIS for half-off the registration fee.

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