Investing in Branding in a Recognition Program

It is absolutely critical to get the corporate communications folks involved with the Recognition program right at the beginning - at the conceptualization & design stage. Why do I say this?

The HR folks are more worried about the Program Structure, Administration Issues and Manager Training. But if the Recognition portal that is rolled out, the certificates that are issued from the program, and the cards (e-Cards, Thank You Cards, Birthday cards etc.) that the system sends out, do not appeal to the employees, the level of excitement that the program can create will diminish.

Whether we like it or not, while Recognition is important, it is not considered as being mission critical - i.e. missing a sales report is mission critical, while not thanking someone is now. This means that you cannot "PUSH" people to do Recognition. You can only educate them and create a "PULL" for them to use the Recognition portal and the tools available to do Recognition. Therefore, when they come to the portal, it should appeal to them. If they receive a "Thank You", they should feel good simply looking at the card and should want to send someone else a nicely designed "Thank You" Card. If they receive a certificate, they should feel like taking a colour print-out and showing it to their family and even display it in their work-desk.

All of the above means that you simply cannot compromise on the design quality and appeal of the employee facing components of the Recognition program - Portal design, User Interface, Design quality of cards, certificates. In addition, the designs should be aligned with the corporate brand - this is why it is critical to involve the corporate communications folks right at the beginning. First - they are the best equipped to figure out the alignment between the recognition program design and the various other communications initiatives in the organization. Second - they typically have a design firm on board who understands the company and can create design concepts that is aligned with the corporate brand.