Beyond a Recognition of Results

Results sustain an organization, but it is recognition that underpins the desire for team members to create those achievements.

Recognition is a superpower of leadership that boosts morale, motivation, and workplace satisfaction.

The good news is that more leaders than ever before are leveraging recognition to lift up team members and infuse them with a strong sense of belonging, purpose, and enthusiasm for their work.

The bad news is that too many leaders only recognize results and not the qualities that give rise to those outcomes. Leaders who only recognize and reward outcomes and results miss a critical link affecting so many of the qualities they want from their team members, including commitment, engagement, and productivity.

By focusing their acknowledgement, appreciation, and praise exclusively on results, they unintentionally undermine the collective spirit of the team.

Performers at all skill levels want to know that their under-the-radar investments to achieve success are prized as highly as the success itself.

Leaders who understand and act on this calculus build a motivated, loyal, and high-performing workforce capable of extraordinary accomplishments. Those who don’t miss the boat.

Consider the many qualities worthy of recognition beyond results: effort, courage, learning, persistence, creativity, commitment, resilience, urgency, and daring, among many others.

Performers want to know that the investments they make to achieve success are noticed, valued, and important to replicate. Leaders who fully grasp the influence of recognition give team members exactly what they want.

They go out of their way to recognize and acknowledge, both publicly and privately, the underlying sacrifices, qualities, and energies that help to produce results, even when the outcomes are disappointing.

Correction: Especially when the outcomes are less than desired.

The true sign of a culture, leader, or parent that is high in recognition is a genuine appreciation for the ingredients that go into the initiative, not just the results.

Those on the cusp of this insight often overplay effort, as opposed to qualities like innovation, vision, integrity, adaptability, decisiveness, collaboration, and dedication.

Recognizing or praising effort, especially with children, is known as a key motivator for future undertakings, but it is less impactful with adults.

In the workplace, effort is more presumed. While acknowledging it can influence future work, good leaders find the quality that is most important to replicate and choose to recognize that.

Are you truly a high-recognition leader?

Perhaps expanding the qualities you acknowledge and appreciate would lift up your team, especially after disappointment. Good leaders tell people what they want more of by recognizing those qualities whenever they occur.

Best of all, such recognition is absolutely free, yet worth a fortune to team success.