Companies spend millions of dollars every year on recognition and reward programs. Wooden clocks, gold watches and desk paperweights have become the norm for telling your employees you care. I advocate for something simple and proven to be effective: thoughtful use of the words please and thank you. For lots of reasons, too many people don’t…due to deadlines, distractions, stress levels or just plain forgetfulness. But you and your employees deserve to be told thank you now and again. This simple stuff goes a long way to creating employee engagement.
Current research on creating a highly engaged workplace clearly demonstrates the importance of an effective reward and recognition system. There is the 10,000 foot view: aligning rewards with work objectives, recognition of employees for living the company values…and a program designed by employees and administered by employees (with leadership input and veto authority). But when it’s all said and done, the most effective recognition and rewards come from the words of kindness that should be and can be expressed every day, several times per day.
Remember that song growing up as a kid? “There are two little magic words that will open any door for you… one little word is please and the other little word is thank you!” I can hear my mother singing it to me now. I was doing some shadow coaching of a client a while back, observing her behavior in meetings and with her employees. She delegated assignments really well but something was clearly missing. Sadly, it took me a feedback interview with one of her employees to hear what wasn’t said was more important than what was said. My client seldom said thank you to her folks…and that’s what they really wanted to hear.
I recall a time when I was interviewing a night shift manager in one of the programs I was responsible for; they were having some issues on the shift and an employee made a compliance complaint. It was my job to investigate the complaint with our compliance officer. To make a long story short, after interviewing the staff and then the manager, the problem turned out to be the manager. He simply refused to say “thank you” for any work the employees did, because he believed “I don’t have to say thank you for doing what they are supposed to do.” But it wasn’t just the “magic words;” his attitude was prevalent in every way he communicated to his employees. No amount of coaching and mentoring by his supervisor made a difference in his behavior, but he got the message loud and clear about our company’s expectations. BTW, he quit… so we know he got the message.
How often do you hear the words please or thank you from your boss? If you are the boss, do you use these simple words to convey your appreciation? Modest and regular recognition of a deed well done conveyed through a simple thank you goes a lot further than the annual rubber chicken award dinner.