We don’t want to ever take those that have continued to support the foundation for granted. Whether you have volunteered, donated, shared and/or liked one of our social media pages, or read the blogs, we cannot thank you enough. Thank you very much! We are so grateful to you.
We continue to look for volunteers to be part of our committees. If you have experience or are interested in volunteering for our finance, nominating, marketing, or fundraising committees, please let us know. We truly value everyone’s time as we understand the various commitments everyone else has. The meetings are once a month and done virtually. We do our very best to keep the committee meetings to less than sixty minutes. There is NO expectation of any financial commitment such as a donation or anything else. We want you for your experience, knowledge, advice, and/or ideas.
In the last two months, I discussed the importance of being valued and appreciated. This month I would like to focus on the final of the three words that I have been emphasizing- recognition. When a staff member is being recognized, they are being acknowledged, praised, or rewarded for something they have done. Recognition tends to be associated with performance or a desired behavior. According to Bob Nelson in his book 1501 Ways to Reward Employees, recognition can be formal (structured program), informal (gestures of gratitude), or day-to-day (daily feedback).
In the book Work Made Fun Gets Done! by Bob Nelson and Mario Tamayo, it states, “Gallup found 65 percent of employees haven’t received any form of recognition for good work in the last year.” One reason that I have heard and read about is that recognition is seen as being costly. Many people associate giving recognition with formal programs that involve tangible rewards such as money, gift cards, plaques, etc. However, this doesn’t always have to be the case. There are numerous rewards that can be given that don’t cost a dime and would be just as appreciated such as a free parking spot, announcement over the intercom or on social media, or a fifteen-minute break. In fact, the cheapest and most effective reward for recognizing a staff member can be done verbally. According to Nelson and Tamayo’s book, “Reward Gateway found that 70 percent of employees say that motivation and morale would improve ‘massively’ if managers simply started saying thank you more.”
Another concern or comment that I hear about recognition programs is that the same people will be recognized, or it will be like a popularity contest. To prevent this, there needs to be a committee that is employee driven and made up of certified and classified staff members. This committee will set the parameters of the recognition program and decide the criteria to be used. The committee can decide that staff members as well as administrators can nominate people, select the winners, and decide the awards. Staff members might be the ones that nominate peers for specific work behaviors or “catching” them doing things right. It is important to have administrators part of this meeting, so they can hear the concerns, suggestions, and ideas of what would make a valuable, fair, and meaningful recognition program.
There are additional concerns regarding recognition programs and the feeling that everyone needs to be recognized even those that might not deserve it or are simply doing what is expected of them in their job description. Again, having a committee develop the criteria can help solve this problem. Additionally, I would argue that as educators you look for the good in all students, so why can’t the same be done for employees. If there are staff members that are not performing at a satisfactory level, then start by looking at behaviors that show an improvement and recognize them for that. Continue to do this until the desired behavior and/or performance is being met. Like students, when we are praised or acknowledged for a behavior or something we are doing that has been improved or exemplary, more than likely we will want to continue doing it. In my opinion, we need to remember we shouldn’t be always getting or handing out rewards or praise for things we should be doing in our job description but for improvements or exceeding expectations. Remember, there are different types of recognition that can fit each person- formal, informal, or day-to-day.
The most powerful type of recognition occurs at the individual level or one-one-one. The committee should let administrators know that in addition to the formal recognition program that they need to recognize their staff members informally and individually on a daily basis. A simple plan for them to use is the what, who, when, where, and how format.
What should be recognized? It should be for a specific behavior or performance.
Who should be recognized? Identify staff member(s) based on the behavior or performance you set for them.
When should the recognition be done? It should be done as soon as the behavior or performance occurred.
Where should the recognition occur? The best recognition is done in person or delivered directly to the staff member.
How should the recognition be done? The most preferred method of this type is done in private, but the staff member should be asked.
According to the book Work Made Fun Gets Done! “Reward Gateway found 85 percent of employees think managers and leaders should spot good work and give praise in the moment, and 81 percent of employees think this should happen on a continuous, year-round basis.”
Recognition programs should fit what is best for their staff. What might work for one school will not be best for another. For example, one school might have a recognition program that involves fun and simple things, while another school might have something that is public and involves the community and local businesses. As with teaching, you want to have a program that differentiates to different staff members and encompasses several ideas. While larger forms of recognition, such as formal ones, work for some staff members, others would prefer something informal or toned down. Ultimately, a very insightful former administrator and volunteer on one of our committees wisely told me, “It is always nice to be acknowledged.”
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