The Ingredients of a Culture of Recognition

A workplace environment where leaders and peers commonly celebrate and acknowledge team member achievements and contributions can best be described as a “culture of recognition.”

Such a culture emphasizes high performance and values individual and team success, which thereby boosts morale, motivation, and engagement.

Of the many benefits accrued by consistent recognition, cultures with this at their core succeed most by attracting and retaining talent and increasing the number of fully engaged and committed team members.

So, we might think every leader would attempt to create such a work climate. Unfortunately, fostering a culture of recognition requires a focus on a host of elements that must be rigorously and consistently applied every day, which is not easy to do.

To assess how close you and your organization or team might be to creating a culture, make an objective judgment about how many of the common ingredients you are committed to.

• Public and private spotlights on top performance, results, and extraordinary contributions

• Celebrating both short-term successes and long-term milestones

• Peers who call out peers for great performance

• Regular performance feedback focused on development opportunities

• Leaders engaged in symbolic gestures of recognition, such as handwritten notes and congratulatory calls

• High investment in skill enhancement and technical training

• Public displays of results and special outcomes

• Rituals and traditions that showcase high performance

• Charitable contributions to the philanthropies important to team members

• Transparency and openness of team and individual performance

• Nomination processes for special acknowledgments

• Organization and team swag to foster pride

• Leaders hosting social activities to celebrate performance and milestones

• Rewarding team members with assignments, projects, and coveted experiences

• Temporary honorific naming of elements of importance (rooms, processes, methods, awards)

• Leaders sharing stories of historical performance and performers at gatherings

The best leaders will tell you that a culture of recognition is a strategic asset that transforms the workplace and drives organizational and team success.

The more ingredients a leadership team invests in, the more recognition becomes a part of the everyday experience felt by team members.

With a significant boost in recognition, higher performance is almost guaranteed.