“Recognition may not be the Goal, but it sure Keeps us Motivated.”

The other day, I read this simple but fabulous quote, “Recognition may not be the goal but it sure keeps us motivated.”    Perhaps it has been said in many other ways with different words and phrases, but the meaning is crystal clear.  It is a belief that all successful leaders have preached throughout their careers.   They insist that it is one of the management philosophies that made them successful.

Recognition can come in many forms and the result is normally a great sense of inspiration and motivation.   Successful leaders tell us that it is much more productive and meaningful to recognize good effort than to constantly try to find fault in others.   We should spend more time to highlight positives as opposed to only wanting to find negatives.  Some managers believe that their role and responsibility is to find fault in their staff so that they can fix the fault.   When was the last time you motivated any of your staff by finding fault?  Believe me, staff appreciate when they are recognized.   They know their role and will always be happy to be noticed for their effort.   Successful leaders consistently go out of their way to find and recognize positive effort.    

Finding fault is easy, finding positives takes effort.

It has been said that the most wonderful word in any language is someone’s name.  Addressing a person by his name is perhaps one of the highest forms of recognition in management.   It was not possible to learn nor remember the names of over 3,000 staff at Ocean Park, yet this was a goal for us, one that was shared and emphasized by  CEO, Tom Mehrmann.  As we took our daily walks through the park, often times together, we would stop to greet and acknowledge our staff, by name if possible.   If we did not know their names, we would introduce ourselves first to get acquainted.

To many of the staff, being recognized by “senior management” can be daunting but is a great sense of achievement, perhaps not expected and often a surprise.   It brought on a humble, perhaps shy smile, but none the less, an expression of gratitude.  It made them feel like this was the right place to work and their effort every day was appreciated.

How do you recognize your staff?  

Do you go out of your way to acknowledge their presence and their effort?   Do you recognize them for their contribution?  I find that a simple “Thank you for your service and being on the team” goes a long way.