Make Their Day Blog

Recently I saw a blatant example of kissing up and it made me wonder:

How do we know the difference between workplace recognition and just plain kissing up?

I knew I was seeing kissing up. My Kiss Up Detector’s (KUD) red lights were flashing and sirens were going off. Like most of us, I may not be able to tell you why I know someone is kissing up, but I just know I know!

But just knowing isn’t good enough. As a recognition advocate I am expected to figure out what is setting off my KUD. In this particular instance, I had been copied on an email from Manager 1 to Manager 2. Manager 1 was trumpeting the praises of Manager 2. The praise was plentiful and many people were copied, amplifying the exposure for Manager 2.

Praise is a good thing, so why did I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end?

After a bit of introspection I decided my KUD was going off for two reasons:

KUD Alert 1) The praise was effusive and grand. At the same time it was vague. There wasn’t a single specific detail in the entire lengthy email. Manager 2 may have been pleased, I don’t know. To me, the lack of information made the email seem insincere.

KUD Alert 2) One hundred or so of us  were copied (100 - really). Why were so many copied? It certainly wasn’t to bring us up to speed on what Manager 2 had done. That would have required at least a few details. Did Manager 1 assume we already had the information we needed? Was I  the only one who had no idea what was so grand about Manager 2? Why was I copied? I found myself looking for a motive beyond giving deserved praise.

Vague and overexposed. Combined, these two factors had my KUD flashing big time. I was curious. Was the recognition real or was I really sensing a Kiss Up? I did a little sleuthing. With very little effort I learned that Manager 2 is being promoted soon and Manager 1 wants her job!

Now that is a juicy bit of gossip that explains everything. But is it true? I don’t know. It may be, or maybe the suspect email sparked the fertile  imagination of an employee who thought it was the only reasonable justification for such effusive praise. From there, other puzzled employees could have helped to spread the rumor. So the question remains, does my Kiss Up Detector work? I really don’t know. There is always the possibility that Manager 1 simply gives sloppy praise.

How about you? What sets off your Kiss Up Detector?

A new article was posted on the Inc Magazine website on the subject of How to Reward Employees on a Budget. Read it and then let me know what you would add to the list!

The past few weeks I’ve read three books: Influence The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Caldini, Influencer The Power to Change Anything by the authors of Crucial Conversations, and Sway The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Braeman.

Why these three books? First, I wanted to learn more about what outside influences affect our behavior. What exactly are the extrinsic motivators that cause people to do what they do? Second, I wanted to see how we can apply this information to what managers can do to create a more motivating work environment.

Sway and Influence both come at the topic from the perspective of unwanted external motivators. Influencer looks at intentional use of external  motivators to affect positive change. Today I will explore Sway and Influence. Next post, Influencer.

Sway looks at what motivates us to behave in an irrational manner, doing things that, when we stand back and observe, just don’t seem to make sense. The authors build a strong case for a and is very interesting in helping us to avoid the triggers that produce irrational behavior. You could tie each motivator they discuss back  to the workplace. It would be worthwhile to explore the impact of each. For the purpose of this article, I want to focus on two triggers that really resonated.

Extrinsic motivator #1:  Labels. One of the most powerful concepts for managers to understand is how labels affect our perception.

Do we see an individuals current performance or do we see what we expect to see?

One example the authors provide is from sports. It seems draft pick number, the order in which players are selected to join a professional team, affects players playing time even years later. The primary factor in determining how much playing time an individual receives was not how well they play now, but how valuable they were rated before joining the league.

Think about how this plays out in the workplace. Once  a manager labels an employee a poor performer that manager is much less likely to see good performance. He looks for the behavior and results that confirm his perception and ignores conflicting evidence. Couple this phenomena together with employees who tend to live up or down to expectations and you have a recipe that makes improvement pretty tough.

Extrinsic motivator #2:  Compensation. Remember, this book is about irrational behavior, so the focus is on when compensation reduces performance. Weird huh?

The authors point out that when people are already motivated intrinsically, maybe they are doing something for the good of the community, compensation can actually decrease motivation. The authors provide examples from a number of experiments that show incentives can motivate someone not to act or to perform poorly. It seems that extrinsic motivators can squelch intrinsic motivators. To put it another way our mercenary tendencies can override the altruistic ones.

I don’t bring this up because I think we need to stop paying people, but because we need to look at what motivators are in play in any given situation and take care not to override the intrinsic with the extrinsic. This idea of conflicting motivators has very interesting implications for incentive programs and might explain why some incentive programs backfire.

The second book, Influence covers some of the same ground as Sway, dives deeper into the research, and takes a significantly more negative approach to the topic. In reading this book it sometimes  was hard to get past the feeling that the book should have been called Manipulation. I had to keep reminding myself that influence is, in and of itself, neutral and can be used for either good or evil.

Here is the extrinsic motivator from Influence that I found particularly relevant to my work in  employee recognition.

Extrinsic motivator #3:  Gifts. The desire to reciprocate is a strong intrinsic motivator triggered by the act of giving a gift (an extrinsic motivator). Caldini points out that reciprocation is used  to compel us to buy or donate. Companies give free samples and, at some level, we feel an obligation to make a purchase. Charities give an unwanted gift and the statistics show we feel obligated to donate.

The need to reciprocate when we are given a gift is  a powerful motivator. The need to reciprocate may partially explain why recognition improves performance. Recognition, whether in the form of praise or award, is a gift. When we receive the gift we want to give something back. I know there is far more to why recognition improves performance than simply wanting to give back, but it is part of why praise motivates us to work even harder.

Labels, compensation, and reciprocation, three motivators that the authors explore for the negative repercussions. Managers need to understand how these triggers work to avoid unintended consequences and reinforce good performance.

Next post, we’ll look at Influencer and explore a different perspective on extrinsic motivators.

When you don’t get any recognition for your work it can be difficult to give it. Think of recognition like food. You are starving (for recognition) and, if you are a manager, you are still  expected to “feed” others. When this happens you are likely to say something along the lines of what I recently heard come out of the mouth of a supervisor:

“Your design is really excellent! In fact, it looks a lot like one I sketched up over the weekend.”

I could almost see this “starving” supervisor reaching out, ready to hand a chunk of warm, crusty, butter-slathered bread to the employee. Then, at the last minute, she snatches it back  and shoves it into her own mouth.

While I understand the desire to feed yourself first, there are a couple of problems with this:

1) A stolen recognition “meal” isn’t all that satisfying. While recognizing yourself in front of others has a place, this isn’t it, and this supervisor isn’t going to feel any more valued.

2) The employee who was recognized by his supervisor for excellent work heard only that he wasn’t original. To top it off, his respect for his supervisor just went down a couple (more) notches.

So, what is the answer? That depends on who you are.

Managers & Supervisors

For managers and supervisors the answer is:

Give recognition freely. Give staff credit for great work, ignoring the part you played. Thank people for doing their jobs (no, a paycheck is not enough). Don’t expect an instant return.

Expect a long-term return on your efforts. Give credit and people will respect you more, cooperate more, take more initiative, and yes - occasionally recognize you as well.

Maintain the appropriate supervisor mindset. Know that, as a supervisor, your job is to supervise your people. Inherent in that fact is that when your employees’ work is good, you are doing good work. For you to acknowledge the part you played is redundant. Remember, the more they shine, the better it reflects on you.

Everyone Else

Do you know that middle managers and supervisors are the most under-recognized group out there? Give them a little praise and appreciation. You will be amazed at how much more likely they are to give provide you with more recognition when they aren’t starved themselves. Recognize your supervisor and  managers in other departments or groups. Privately give them the praise and appreciation they deserve. Everyone will be the beneficiary.

Copyright 2010 Cindy Ventrice

We are wrapping up a really tough year. We have experienced layoffs and budget cuts and are all struggling to do more with less.

Many people were laid off this year. Some are back to work, at least with temporary assignments. Others are still struggling to find work. It can be really demoralizing. If you know someone who has lost their job this first resolution is for you:

1) Stay connected. For those who have been out of work for awhile, it is easy to fall into a funk and withdraw. Help them out. Send an occasional email, take them to lunch, make a LinkedIn introduction, anything that let’s them know you are thinking about them.

For those who are employed, employment generally means a greater workload, less resources, less compensation and/or benefits. In some workplaces the atmosphere has become oppressive while in others, people have come together with a strong ‘can do’ spirit.  The atmosphere all depends on the attitudes and actions of absolutely every person who works there.

We all want to work in a great place. If you don’t, be the catalyst for positive change. Here are two simple workplace resolutions that will help turn your organization around:

1) Say thank you. These two simple words tell your colleagues that you appreciate them. You will soon see how appreciative they are as well.

2) Acknowledge your coworkers. Few of us work in a vacuum. Acknowledge the support and encouragement that others provide. Praise their contributions. Share the credit.

Two workplace resolutions (that work equally as well at home): praise and appreciation. Neither takes much time. You can keep it as simple as you like. Offer both and you will see smiles. People will be more cooperative and positive. Your workplace will be more enjoyable (and probably more productive as well!)

These are resolutions you can keep and you will make someone’s day over and over again. What would you add to the list?

Copyright 2009 Cindy Ventrice

Focusing on your employees’ strengths engages them, while focusing on their weaknesses disengages them. Are you surprised? Probably not, but now it is confirmed by Gallup, which says managers who focus on:

• Strengths - have 61 percent engagement among employees and 1 percent disengagement.

• Weaknesses - have 45 percent engagement and 22 percent  disengagement.

Even more amazing, managers who ignore their employees have only 2 percent engagement and 40 percent disengagement!  I know managers are busy, but imagine how much more time they would have if an additional 39 percent of employees were engaged.

For more on focusing on strengths see this post and for more on criticism this post.

My question to you is, if focusing on the positive produces the best results, why don’t more managers do this?

A new survey by CareerBuilder, released yesterday, has found that 23 percent of employers believe that morale in their organizations is low.  No surprise here.

Workers stated that low morale was due to heavier workloads and longer hours. Again, no surprise.

The study also found that more employers are turning to employee recognition to help the situation. This could be good news. Great employee recognition can help give a boost to morale, particularly if employers can demonstrate that they really do value employees. Long term though, recognition is built on respect, so when the economic reality changes, if work conditions don’t change with it, recognition programs will no longer work.

There were another part of the study that I found interesting. Thirty-eight percent of workers felt there was favoritism at work. When asked what that favoritism looked like they identified many factors. Here I will focus on just a few.

They believed that favored workers/departments receive:

• More recognition by senior leaders (P/A)
• More flexibility (R)
• Greater career advancement opportunities (O)
• More training and leadership development opportunities (O)

For those that are familiar with PORT and the four elements of recognition, I have attached the corresponding letter to each of these complaints. For those that are unfamiliar, PORT stands for Praise, Opportunity, Respect, and Thanks or appreciation. You can learn a bit more here. PORT — the elements of meaningful recognition that are laid it in detail in Make Their Day! Employee Recognition That Works and Recognition Strategies That Work. I have attached an R to flexibility because it equates with trust. Many of the items I left off the list would also have an R assigned. In fact fairness, would be tagged with an R. Lack of fairness, overall, is seen as disrespect. And disrespect is the greatest driver of poor morale.

The best way to improve morale is to focus on creating a respectful environment: honest, fair, and concerned with employee well-being. What do you think? Are these impossible goals given the economy?

Employee recognition doesn’t have to be costly. In the past, I explained the value of symbolic awards and offered tips for using these as inexpensive and impactful awards for recognizing employees.

I am always on the lookout for clever ideas and reader Kellee Joost has an idea to share. She uses a cheese grater to send the message:

Thanks for contributing to the “grater” good of the Company.

The pun may make you laugh or groan, but the message will stick!

What symbolic awards come to mind for you?

All the best, Cindy

Recently, I was asked about some research I completed in 2007 and in digging around, found this post:

Tuning Into Employee Preferences

In it, I share the results of a survey I had completed that asked respondents about the manager behaviors that communicated to them that they were valued.  Praise, feedback on your work, a manager who listens, which would be most valued? You might be surprised by the answer.

And while you are there, it is worth asking yourself if you are doing what matters most.

All best,

Cindy Ventrice

A manager I coached wanted to build greater rapport with her team by offering them recognition. She told me that any awards had to be very inexpensive. She had very little money to spend, only about $30 for a team of nine. I told her she could offer inexpensive, high-impact recognition, but that she was going to have do a bit of work to make it happen.

I gave her her first assignment.

Think about three things:

1)  What is unique about each member of your team?

2) How do members contribute to the work the team does?

3) What do you most value about each individual’s role within your organization?

She finished the assignment and got back to me with her list. She had put a lot of though into how each person made a unique contribution to the team. One employee was great at relieving group stress by lightening things up. Another had a gift for organizing the work environment. A third was superb with difficult customers.

She told me that she learned something in doing this assignment. Thes exercise made her think about what was valuable about each person, and it increased her appreciation of the work each did. She learned that, in fact, she did value every member of her team. While initially, she had her doubts about one or two, she realized that each contributed, although some in ways that weren’t immediately visible or obvious.  She had simply failed to “see” them clearly.

I gave her a second assignment. I asked her to think of a symbol for each trait or behavior. These symbols should be something she could purchase for no more than a few dollars: a puzzle for solving challenges, a silly mask for bringing humor to the workplace, a slinky for flexibility.

She made her list, shopped for and found appropriate items, put some thought into her presentation, and then held her awards ceremony.

She reported back to me that at the end of her presentation, she said, “I hope you all know how much I value you.” One member of the team spoke up. She said, “I do now.”

Want to build better rapport with your team?

Do this exercise.

Make a list of your team members.

1) Note what is unique about each:

• characteristics
• valued behaviors
• specific ways in which they support the team.

2) Don’t leave anyone out. You can find something you value about every single person if you really look.

3) Once you have completed the list, tell team members what you value. Or, take the next step.

4) Add the symbolic awards. Do a more formal presentation of each. You can make the presentations one to one or to the group as a whole, whatever is a better fit with your team culture.

This is recognition that acknowledges what you value. It is inexpensive. It is meaningful. It will be appreciated.

© Cindy Ventrice