Employee Experience: 3 Tips for Offering Equitable Recognition to Your Team
Recently, we’ve been delving into the importance of recognition as a part of personal, team, and company culture. When it comes to uplifting one’s team in sustainable ways, managers must be aware of this fairness component to recognition and take actionable steps to offer it in an equitable manner.
Accordinging to Gallup, “only 26% of employees strongly agree they receive similar amounts of recognition as other team members at their company with similar performance levels. Deeper analysis shows clear patterns in who is—and isn’t—receiving recognition, with significant implications about the state of diversity and inclusion in workplaces.” Overall, the equity of recognition has the power to reflect inclusivity efforts or lapses– it’s all up to workplace leaders to exhibit fairness in how they offer it.
3 Tips for Equitable Recognition
At Leadology, we keep people development at the forefront of our teachings. When it comes to honing your management skills, remember that it all starts with one step, one conversation at a time. If recognition and appreciate is moving toward the front of your strategy, then keep these 3 tips in mind:
The key to offering recognition, even among larger teams, is knowing each and every person’s strengths.
As we discussed these past few weeks, effective recognition stems from its fulfillment and authenticity, meaning that what you celebrate in your employees’ work should be specific and intentional, not just generic, empty praise.
Ask your team members what meaningful recognition has looked like in the past for them.
To put this into practice, ask them! When was the last time they were meaningfully recognized–– what did that sound and feel like? What is their favorite form of recognition? It’s important that these things are accounted for when providing fair and accurate recognition to others on your team.
Another facet of equitable recognition also comes in the form of offering it to more than just your workplace superstars.
Consider what you can notice in those who are most improved. Who has had the courage to try something new? While recognition of many different kinds can be valuable, this frequent and equitable recognition can be as simple as saying, “I noticed much more confidence in the way that you presented at our last meeting.” Not only does recognition like this reinforce these positive behaviors and approaches to work, but it has the power to instill greater confidence and motivation in employees who exhibit this promising potential.
Finding fair approaches to meaningful recognition has the ability to greatly impact both team and company culture.
Offering frequent and equitable recognition builds upon what we’ve learned about its fulfillment and authenticity. In all, it comes back to being able to speak to and celebrate employees’ strengths on a consistent basis. Leadology programs like Activate work to empower managers to notice and verbalize employee strengths using effective communication skills. We work closely with workplace leaders to also refine their emotional intelligence skills, which are integral to uplifting teams in meaningful ways.
Ready to uplift every employee on your team? Schedule a call with us to learn more about how equitable recognition can change the course of your company.
