NO ENTRY FOR MOST OF YOU. We Recognize only the Very Best!!

I have noticed that a very large number of companies do not have a well thought out Recognition Program that can offer a large number of employees in the organization an opportunity to win awards appropriate for their contribution levels and get recognized in a meaningful manner. The programs typically tend to be elitist in nature with only the very best getting the recognition and the rewards.

Imagine if in tennis, the only tournaments were the 4 grand slam events. Would there be the same kind of enthusiasm and interest in tennis from budding tennis players? There are a number of tournaments at the country level, state level, district level and even at the local club levels. Each of these tournaments offer opportunities for a large number of players to win and get recognition for their skills and efforts and gain the confidence to aspire for the bigger tournaments/awards.

In organizations, the HR leaders and the senior managers need to put in the effort to create opportunities for the non-superstars to get recognized and win awards at various levels. By doing this, if they can increase the confidence and engagement levels of the larger employee population, the business benefits from the increased value the larger employee population would add, will be sizable.

Meeting Rooms and Recognition

In most companies, you will notice that meeting rooms/conference rooms are named after countries, mountains, rivers, world famous personalities etc. The management and the facilities spend reasonable time in selecting the names/theme for the rooms.

During a visit to a large global organization a few weeks ago, I noticed something quite creative. Our meeting was in a room called “The Aditya Gupta” meeting room – Below the room name, they had Aditya Gupta’s photograph, a small write-up on Aditya Gupta’s profile, the work he had done for the company and why the room was named after him for the 6 month period, Jan to Jun 2011 – for an innovation he had delivered.

I learnt later that Aditya Gupta was a junior employee in the organization and as part of one of their recognition programs, the award was a framed certificate, a cash award of Rs. 5,000 and a meeting room named after him for 6 months. What a fantastic, low cost and highly effective way to recognize the employee.