Ways to Recognize People
Steve Smith has identified twenty different ways to recognize the employees. His 20 ways are listed in Table 1.
Table 1. Twenty ways to recognise people
| 1. Send letters to improve team members when they establish a team, thanking them for their involvement. Send another one at the end of their project or key action, thanking them for their contribution. |
| 2. Develop a ‘behind the scenes’ award specifically for those whose actions are not usually in the lime light, make sure such awards are in the lime light. |
| 3. Create a ‘best ideas of the year’ booklet and include everyone’s picture, name and description of their best ideas. |
| 4. Feature the quality team of the month and put their picture in a prominent place. |
| 5. Honour peers who have helped you by recognising them at your (or their) staff meetings. |
| 6. Let people attend meetings, committees etc., in your place when you are not available. |
| 7. Involve teams with external customers and suppliers, sending them on appropriate visits to solve problems and look for opportunities. |
| 8. Invite a team for coffee or lunch at any time, not necessarily when you need them for something. |
| 9. Create a visibility wall to display information, posters, pictures, thanking individual employees and their teams, and describing their contributions. |
| 10. When you are discussing an individual’s or group’s ideas with other people, peers, or higher management, make sure that you give them credit. |
| 11. Mention someone’s outstanding work or ideas during your own meetings and at meetings with your peers and management. |
| 12. Take interest in employees’ development and set up appropriate training and experience to build on their initiatives. |
| 13. Get your teams’ pictures in the company newspaper newsletter. |
| 14. Write a ‘letter’ to praise’ to people to recognise their specific contributions and accomplishments, send a copy to your boss. |
| 15. Ask people to help you with a project you consider to be especially difficult but which provides real challenge. |
| 16. Send a team to special seminars, workshops or meetings, outside that cover topics they are especially interested in. |
| 17. Ask your boss to send a letter of acknowledgement and thanks to individuals or groups that are making significant contributions. |
| 18. Honour outstanding contributors with awards which are formally presented and publicised. |
| 19. Have a stock of small gifts to give to people on the spot whom you ‘catch doing things right’. |
| 20. Promote or nominate for promotion, those people who contribute most to improvement over a period of time. |
| Read More Topics |
| Characteristics of the empowered employees |
| Explain the various stages of team development |
| Leading practices for leadership |
