Training Magazine - July 2008 - (Page 34)

5TALENT MANAGEMENT ISSUE5 Good Job! “Let’s say you decide to reward an everyone to be recognized with the CERTIFIED TO RECOGNIZE employee’s great performance with a same kind of award.” One way to learn more about best practices in ham,” says Hayes-Brown. “If he employee recognition (and pass them on to managers doesn’t eat ham, it’s not going to be RECOGNITION in your own organization) might be to earn certificaTRAINING all that meaningful.” Clearly, if a tion in the topic. Recognition Professionals manager rewards an employee with In “Trends in Employee RecogniInternational, an association for recognition professionsomething that was chosen specifition 2008,” Scottsdale, AZ-based als in Naperville, IL, offers a Certified Recognition cally for that employee (i.e., a gift human resources association Professional (CRP) designation. Participants must take certificate to a bookstore for an WorldAtWork documented the four courses and pass tests to earn the designation. employee who enjoys reading), the current state of employee recogniThe courses cover the structuring, planning, measureimpact will be all the greater. tion. The survey findings were ment, maintenance, and application of employee But how is a manager to know based on the responses of 554 recognition programs. what will be a meaningful reward? WorldAtWork members. A whopCRP graduates also must recertify every three “Ask questions,” Bardwick says. “You ping 81 percent of organizations years, either by passing a 100-point exam or by have to take the time to find out that responded to the survey did completing a combination of certain professional what might be meaningful, so your not have a formal training proactivities or development. For example, participants reward shows you’ve paid attention gram to educate its managers might deliver recognition training or write an article to that person.” about the organization’s recogniabout a topic related to recognition, and attend a “That’s where training comes in,” tion programs. More than half (52 conference or Web seminar on the subject. says Hayes-Brown.“Managers can be percent) said their recognition proFor more information about the CRP designation, go taught that this kind of attention grams did not have a written to www.recognition.org and click on Education/Events. strategy behind them. matters, and that if they engage Compounding the problem is a recognition strategically by knowing tendency for many leaders to see recognition as “just something more about their employees, they’ll succeed more.” However well-chosen it is, a reward that comes six months HR does” and as a cost center rather than an investment. This after a good performance is much less meaningful than one means many training organizations that suggest training to make that comes three days later. One company Saunderson worked employee recognition more successful are waging an uphill battle. with had a complex process of recognition, in which nominaOne weapon for that battle, of course, is measurement. tions had to be approved by the manager at the next level “Correlations between performance metrics, turnover numbers, before any reward could be given. “It could be three weeks to and employee recognition can be a powerful argument for training that helps managers to recognize more effectively,” three months before employees were rewarded, and by that Saunderson says. Once the training is in place, those same meastime they might have forgotten all about what they’d done,” he urements can be used to evaluate its impact and to reinforce the says. “Companies that reward more swiftly make it clear the behaviors taught in training. employee’s performance matters and has been noticed.” “I often recommend the 24-7-30 approach,” says Stotz. “After Ultimately, managers should learn how they can integrate recognition with coaching and mentoring for the employee’s the education, within 24 hours, you can send a survey or some content that reviews the learning. Then after seven days, you suroverall performance. vey them to ask whether they’ve implemented the actions the • WHAT SHOULD I NOT DO? “Effective recognition is impossitraining explained. After 30 days, you do some other type of ble when acknowledgement is either too frequent or too rare,” follow-up. This helps management and the organization to see says Bardwick. “Something significant has to be accomplished so that recognition is important.” the recognition clearly was earned and not just a given.” Employees also can recognize their peers’ actions, and they may Many organizations, out of a fear that someone’s feelings will need training in how to do it properly. But they also may need be hurt, rig their recognition programs so every employee is recinstruction on how to accept recognition. “People may interrupt ognized in some way. But that only debases the coinage of the manager who is trying to praise them, and say, ‘Oh, it’s no big recognition. The point is to single out a desirable behavior or deal,’” Green says. “They might just be nervous, but the signal the action, and to acknowledge its value not only to the employee manager gets might be ‘Don’t do this again.’ So it doesn’t hurt to but to the rest of the organization. educate employees—and managers, for that matter—in how to Managers’ personal feelings about recognition of their own accept recognition and acknowledge it gracefully.” t performance should be explored in training, as well. A discussion of what motivates others helps managers to avoid assuming that others see recognition in the same way they do.“Some manTo learn about overcoming resistance to recognition and managerial agers have said they don’t recognize others’ performance because empathy’s role in recognition, visit www.trainingmag.com/ they themselves don’t need it, and, therefore, nobody else should recognition. Check out www.trainingmag.com/praise for an article by need it either,” Bardwick says. “Others think fairness requires Recognition Professionals International’s Christi L. Gibson. 34 | JULY / AUGUST 2008 t r a i n i n g w w w. t r a i n i n g m a g . c o m http://www.recognition.org http://www.trainingmag.com/recognition http://www.trainingmag.com/praise http://www.trainingmag.com/recognition http://www.trainingmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Training Magazine - July 2008

Training Magazine - July 2008 Contents Online TOC Editor’s Note Training Today Soapbox How-To World View Managing the Magic Keys to the Kingdom Good Job! Personalities & Performance Hidden Potential The Executive Entrance Live & Online No More Revolving Door Questions for Covey TMI Brochure

Training Magazine - July 2008

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