Building a culture of recognition in your organisation

Original authors: Michael Rose and Chris Wilson

Consultant author: Michael Rose

Summary

• Recognition is about praising people for the great things that they are doing, rather than an incentive for reaching targets. (See Recognition and recognition schemes)
• Recognition schemes range from the very informal, where managers concentrate on saying "thank you" to employees, to more formal corporate programmes. (See The recognition continuum)
• A recognition scheme should be consistent with the culture of the business and the business's stated policies and values. (See Aims and objectives)
• Engagement surveys and other business measures can be used to identify the starting position and then measure the impact of the recognition scheme over time. (See Developing the business case)
• In designing its recognition scheme an organisation will need to decide, for example, how formal it wishes the scheme to be, the appropriate recognition criteria, and how nominations will be made and assessed. (See Designing the recognition scheme)
• The type of recognition award on offer will depend on the nature of the scheme being run, but the impact should be through the recognition itself and not the award. (See Recognition awards)
• Any recognition scheme will need to be branded, promoted and marketed to optimise success. (See Communicating the scheme to employees)