“There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves”  – Lyndon Johnson

“Everybody on a championship team doesn’t get publicity, but everyone can say he’s a champion” – Earvin “Magic” Johnson

“Coming together is a beginning.  Keeping together is progress.  Working together is success” – Henry Ford

As humans we know mistakes are inevitable.  I’m not suggesting you reward every mistake but a few well chosen opportunities can go a long way to setting a culture that is accepting of mistakes and learns from them.  As well as benefiting from all the innovation and creativity it releases. 

So evaluate the mistakes/failures through the following lens and when appropriate choose a recognition technique that best communicates the message and treats the individual or individuals involved with respect.

1. Was the mistake driven by someone trying something new and innovative?
2. Did the individual and or team learn something from the experience that will be beneficial in the future?
3. Were the consequences of the mistake contained and manageable?
4. Will the individual or team that made the mistake be comfortable with the details being shared publically?

If you answered yes to each of these questions then it’s an ideal opportunity to use this example to reward the intention of trying to achieve better results.  Don’t just reward failure once as it will be seen as a passing idea of the month.  That said make sure you reward success more often, it’s great to create the culture of being accepting of failure but you don’t want to go too far in actively promoting it.

1.  Determine your team members comfort level in presenting:
   • Some will love to be on stage and simply need you to open the door – review in advance their role and guidelines on “airtime”.
   • Some will love to be “in the room” but need multiple visits to feel comfortable presenting – bring the team member along and introduce them as a significant contributor and with you to hear feedback, give the credit and acknowledgement but don’t push for too much too fast.
2. Be respectful of the audience – gain their buy in, in advance to ensure you aren’t bringing a team member to a meeting that was planned to review confidential information.
3. Plan out your opportunities in advance but don’t “fill the slot” if the fit between the person, role and meeting is not the right match.

This form of recognition will both motivate individuals and demonstrate your commitment to the development of your team members.

Motivating each of our team members is something worth making time for.  However, false praise is worse than no praise at all, it re-inforces bad behaviour and most importantly demotivates the team members who do deserve accolades for their efforts and achievements.  When you want a team operating at peak performance you do need an overall motivated team.  So make a plan:

1. Create a weekly plan – put together a chart of all the team members.
2. Note for each team member how they would like to be praised/recognized – publicly or privately.
3. Each week challenge yourself to recognize at least one team member- in the team members prefered method

Rotate through each of the team members, key rule – do not praise/recognize unless fully deserved you don’t have to go through the list in a linear manner, just be cognizant of how often you have recognized or not recognized each individual.  If you find there is someone that you are never in a position to praise/recognize take steps to rectify by digging deeper into why that is and manage through to end up with a team of self motivated individuals that make your motivating job an easy one.

Lynn

Team Enthusiast

Here are 4 different perspectives on how best to “recognize” an individual based on 4 different personality preferences:

1. In front of the group – for the individuals who are the highly competitive, do things quickly and want to move on to the next.  
   • a quick team huddle with an acknowledgement of the good work and impact the individual has had will fit the bill
2. Publicly in writing – for the individual who likes structure and order. 
   • a congratulatory email or a write up in the office newsletter, acknowledging the achievement will work best
3. One on one- for the individuals who are always asking “why” they like to work independently, looking at the big picture and solving the problems.
   • a face to face acknowledgement with a hand shake will satisfy their need to be recognized
4. Hand written thank you note – for the individual who is always focused on pulling the team together and creating harmony
   •  pick up a thank you card and hand write a small message of praise and thanks, the personal connection will go a long way to motivating this individual

Seeing each team member clearly and then adjusting the recognition that best fits their personality type will make your recognition efforts go a lot further in motivating them to continue to perform to the best of their abilities.

Lynn – Team Enthusiast