An Award is meaningless without a monetary component. Really? What about the Oscar Awards then?

While all of us are watching the 84th Academy Awards roll-out, did you know that there is no "Monetary" award for the Oscar winners. All they get is the statuette. All the other benefits are indirect - global recognition, potential contracts, endorsements etc. Despite this, the Oscar awards are the pinnacle of Recognition in the movie industry, which everyone in the movie industry aspires for.

There are several lessons for corporates from this:

1) The premier awards in your organization do not need to have a large monetary component, if you are able to execute the Recognition process well. Over a period of time, the awards will be so aspirational, that no one will worry about the lack of a monetary component.

2) You get an opportunity to recognize the top few (nominees) while differentiating the best with just a statuette. This way the Recognition covers a larger employee pool.

3) Chances are, all your top performers are already making reasonable money and their careers are flourishing with promotions, investments in training etc. So in some ways, what they yearn for is "Real Recognition" for their high levels of performance.

4) You can use the event to bring out hidden talents in your employees - in terms of anchors, performers etc. If you search hard enough, you should be able to find enough youngsters who can pull off the event with passion.

The key is for the top management to believe that "Pure Recognition" will work and make the necessary investments to create a legacy program that will take a few years to flourish and create the necessary interest from employees.