Recognition comes in many forms. It can be a specific “thank you” for something that has been well done or it can be a leader showing sincere interest in their team members as individuals.
Whatever form the recognition takes, the objective is to ensure that your team members feel good about themselves and the contribution they are making. Only then will there be the energy required for high performance.
4 Tips to Help Recognize your Team Members
- Do you give everyone credit for achievements, not forgetting those who may be struggling? The recognition is often the boost those individuals need to get back up to speed.
- Develop your own personal people-recognition system to ensure that pats on the back are always at the top of your to-do list. Make sure that the pats are for something substantive. Overdone recognition becomes hollow.
- Ask the people you lead how they would like to be recognized. What energizes some means little to others.
- Recognition doesn’t have to come only from the leader (although it must also come from the leader). Get your team members committed to looking for opportunities to recognize one another.
Remember to Have Fun!
It is easy for teams to become too serious and lose the lightness that brings both energy and creativity to the job. If your team doesn’t have fun, it is either burning out or fading out.
Fun doesn’t have to be a full-scale production. A picnic, a game of pool or a drink after work can be fun. Celebrating small successes is fun. Surprising your team with a morning break (complete with muffins and coffee of course) can be fun. Working in an environment in which light-heartedness is seen as an energizer as opposed to a distraction, is fun.