For a motivating environment to exist, employees have to be acknowledged for their efforts. We all want to be acknowledged. I have worked with managers who never gave a compliment to me or any other employees. I actually worked for a manager one time who screamed at me and then came back an hour later and said, “I know I screamed, but I don’t apologize to anyone.”
There are many ways of acknowledging efforts of employees:
• Give a verbal compliment. A simple comment to an employee for the fine work they have done can have a productive effect.
• Sending a handwritten note. A simple handwritten note has a great deal of value. In this high-tech world we live in, a handwritten note can have significant impact and a high perceived value. I have written short notes of acknowledgment to employees, and many of them have kept the notes and have proudly displayed them in their cubicles.
• Sending an e-mail. The advantage of e-mail is its immediacy. If it is sent from the road while the manager is traveling at 12:00 midnight, all the better.
• Giving a small gift. When an employee does something really incredible, a small gift can have an impact. It doesn’t have to be a large gift, because it really is the “thought that counts.”
• Publicly acknowledging. Thanking an employee publicly during a meeting can have a positive impact.
• Giving bonus time. Giving an employee unexpected time off for an afternoon as a reward can leave them feeling appreciated and motivated.
• Providing cash bonuses. A small cash bonus or a gift certificate can have a very motivating impact.
• Awarding a plaque or certificate. A small plaque or certificate can be motivating. I belong to Toastmasters, and at each meeting, they give out ribbons for best speech, best evaluation, etc. The ribbons are highly valued.
• Leaving a voice mail. Managers can call an employee’s voice mail late at night and leave an “I appreciate you” message. It is an unexpected surprise and gets the employee’s day off to a nice start the next day.
Managers must be very careful to make sure that acknowledging efforts don’t backfire and end up making the feeling of appreciation worse, not better. Here are some tips on making sure the acknowledgment doesn’t have this effect:
• Make it even. Make sure that the acknowledgments have the appearance of being even throughout the team. That is not to say that all acknowledgment should be given equally—that if a manager gives employee #1 an acknowledgment then they have to give employee #2 one as well. Managers need to be cognizant of the distribution of acknowledgment and make sure that it is not too uneven. Every team has superstars, and they deserve acknowledgment. The team gets discouraged though when the superstars get all the acknowledgment and the rest get none at all. The impact of an acknowledgment for non-superstars might have more motivating impact, because they are not accustomed to receiving compliments.
• Give out awards. Awards can be a very powerful incentive tool. There are times, however, when an award can create resentment. They can create resentment in the following circumstances: (1) The award given is not perceived as deserved, (2) the same person gets the award all the time, and (3) other people who work hard are not acknowledged. To avoid any resentment, make sure all employees feel appreciated. If this happens, then awards will be well received and will have a positive impact.
• Avoid over acknowledgment. Managers can get overly enthusiastic and can over compliment and acknowledge. The acknowledgment loses its impact when it is overdone. A manager who constantly gives compliments and acknowledges efforts daily can be just as detrimental as one who never gives a compliment.
• Practice honesty. A manager should ensure that in all circumstances, the feedback and acknowledgment are honest. For example, let’s say that June, an employee of the company, has worked night and day on a special project and is extremely proud of her work and effort. When the project document is reviewed, the content is excellent, but the appearance of the document is a disaster, with typos, grammatical errors, and sloppy formatting. Some of the pages are even printed crooked and bound out of order. Should the manager compliment June for her hard work? Yes. Should the manager compliment June for the entire project? No. It is important for managers to separate the positive and negative aspects of the performance and coach accordingly. I have seen managers who were effusive with their praise on a project that was weakly executed. There are two problems with this scenario: (1) The manager loses credibility with the rest of the team and (2) the employee is getting positive reinforcement that they don’t rightfully deserve.
There are some managers who are afraid to give honest feedback, want to avoid hurting someone’s feelings, or don’t want conflict. These managers should get training on how to have open and honest communication with their team or should stop being managers. Giving an employee feedback that is not completely honest is doing an employee a grave injustice. It means they are not getting the feedback they deserve and they are getting a false impression that they are doing well.
I once ran a leadership development program for a company, and the candidates for the program had to submit an application to be accepted into the program. The rules stated that the application had to be signed by the employee and their manager. One morning I received a call from someone in the Human Resources Department. She said she wanted to know if I had an application from a particular employee. I looked at the file and said that I had the application. She then said something that shocked me: “Well, I need you to reject that application. That person can’t be in the program.” I asked her why. She said, “The manager had the employee bring him the application and he signed it, but he didn’t want to sign it.” I was very confused as to why a manager would sign an application that indicates approval if he didn’t want to sign it. The person from HR continued, “The manager signed it to avoid conflict with the employee. He didn’t think the employee was ready for the program, but signed the form as the path of least resistance. Now the manager wants the application denied.” If managers can’t handle conflict and don’t have the guts to give constructive feedback, they shouldn’t be managers.