One Size Does Not Fit All!

Way Too Muchattention

Does this story sound familiar?

Susan, the cheerful department manager, loves public recognition of her work. When her boss, Mike, announces at a staff meeting that her department had the best stats for the previous month, she simply glows with pride. She stands and graciously accepts the round of applause from her peers, then sits down and hopes that she can repeat that feeling next month.

Susan decides that she is going to start recognizing her team leaders in a similar manner. At her next department meeting, she praises one of the teams for their productivity, for meeting team goals, for an overall positive attitude. Susan then asks Joe, the leader of that team, to stand and be acknowledged for his successful leadership.

Rather than being something marvelous for him, Joe slumps down in his chair. He hates this kind of recognition! He starts wishing for a hole to open up in the floor that he can slip into. Joe looks around, hoping that he heard wrong; perhaps it was someone else she mentioned. Finally, noticing that the other seven people around the table were all looking his way, he stood halfway up, turning red and still looking for that hole in the floor. Poor Joe!

Susan made the same mistake that many people make. She assumed that her staff would enjoy the same kind of recognition that she did. Susan failed to take into account the personality and preferences of the individual. Her sincere attempt to offer praise to Joe failed miserable in its delivery.

Thank You Note

The Recognition Professionals International tells us that recognition is more powerful than any other motivation. However, as leaders, we must recognize that not everyone responds to recognition the same way. In the story above, Joe would have really appreciated a private good word from Susan, or perhaps a letter of recognition for his personnel file, or maybe bagels for his team one morning. Just as people respond differently, we must recognize differently.

In The Top Ten Ways to Show Employees Appreciation, Susan M. Heathfield lists some great ways to show your employees how much they mean to you. From privately praising a specific action to offering a cross-training opportunity to hosting a full blown party, the recognition must be meaningful and appropriate. Joe will never forget what Susan did, but he may forget why!

What are some creative ways that you have shown your team how much you appreciate them? Have you ever had an experience like Joe?

L2L Contributing Author

4 Comments

  1. Kay Stout on February 20, 2009 at 1:08 pm

    I am a “Susan” – – but I had a coworker who was a “joe” .. and quickly learned that recognition for her needed to be one-on-one and she loved gift cards to a local mall.

    Absolutely one size does not fit all – – the fun is finding what does work and building on it.

    A very personal example is when my mother was in a retirement center. She and the cleaning lady formed a close friendship, but it was against the rules to give presents of any kind to the employees. So I asked the cleaning lady if I could have her home address. She gave it to me and I periodically sent her gift cards. She was the best set of ears and eyes I had.



  2. Eleanor Biddulph on February 20, 2009 at 3:53 pm

    Kay – thank you for stopping by L2L and commenting on my post! My Mom is in a nursing home so I can relate to your personal story. What a lovely gesture on your part to recognize the person that is helping to care for your Mom in a manner that is meaningful to that individual. Thank you for sharing the idea.



  3. West Los Angeles Chiropractor on April 11, 2009 at 2:00 pm

    Finally someone who can write a good blog ! I loved your post and will be telling others about it. Subscribing to your RSS feed now. Thanks



  4. Eleanor Biddulph on April 11, 2009 at 4:34 pm

    “West LA Chiropractor” – Thank you so much for stopping by L2L and commenting on my post. I am encouraged by your positive feedback and look forward to your return. And, yes, please do tell others! El



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