Catch Your Employees Doing Things Right

Did you know that 63% of employees who are recognized regularly said they wouldn’t consider looking for a new job? It’s time to be on a mission to catch your employees doing things right.  Employees who are recognized regularly are more engaged and view their leaders as more effective.

When your team is highly engaged, happy, and feeling appreciated, you are more likely to have their respect as a leader. In a study involving 10,000 U.S. employees, the firm Interact found that when workers felt management appreciated their contributions, employee engagement was boosted 60%. Employees who receive positive reinforcement feel valued, enjoying greater self-confidence and finding it easier to handle tough situations, especially with difficult customers. They even have more available headspace for creative, innovative thinking. An effective leader keeps these factors and their effects on company culture front of mind.

Never Forget About the Unsung Heroes

Recognize everyone, regardless of their position or title; ask for their input and opinions. You may be surprised by what you learn. When the CEO of the Charles Schwab Corporation, Walt Bettinger was asked what the best lesson was he learned in college, he answered that he wanted to graduate with a perfect 4.0 GPA, and it came down to his last final exam. “I had spent many hours studying and memorizing formulas to do calculations for the case studies. The teacher handed out the final exam, and it was on one piece of blank paper,” explained Bettinger. “The professor said, ‘I’ve taught you everything I can teach you about business in the last 10 weeks, but the most important message, the most important question, is this: What’s the name of the lady who cleans this building?’”

That test and lesson had a lasting impact on Bettinger. “It was the only test I ever failed, and I got the B I deserved. Her name was Dottie, and I didn’t know Dottie.” Although he had seen her many times, he’d never had a conversation with her, even if just to introduce himself and learn her name. Bettinger realized he’d been missing important moments of connection. “I’ve tried to know every Dottie I’ve worked with ever since. It was just a great reminder of what really matters in life, and that you should never lose sight of people who do the real work.”

Great Leaders are Obsessively Grateful and Positive

Being shown appreciation for the work they do makes employees feel valued and proud. Celebrating small achievements helps people face larger challenges. It builds momentum. The experience of celebrating small accomplishments sets up a positive dynamic where everyone wants to do better. Routinely, frequently, and generously thanking team members costs nothing and has enormous benefits.

Giving positive feedback builds employee confidence and reinforces beneficial behaviors. One study compared athletes who received unconditional positive comments from their coaches with those who received criticism. The former group experienced an increase in confidence, greater love for the sport, and stronger persistence through challenges. The latter group felt less secure, less motivated, and tended to wear out more quickly. The same pattern has been found true for teachers and students, and it applies to bosses and the people they “coach” in the workplace as well, both front-line employees and those behind the scenes.

Paying more, by itself, is not a long-term solution for retaining top talent. The most powerful approach to being proactive about talent is to invest in your existing team members. People have an insatiable need for attention. We all want to be seen, heard, and valued for our own unique set of skills and contributions. Data shows over and over that employees who receive weekly, light-touch attention from their managers are not only happier with their employee experience overall, but they are three times more likely to be all-in at work and motivated to provide a best-in-class customer experience.

Catching People Doing Things Right

Do you have a system that reminds and inspires leaders to encourage others on a consistent basis? In my companies, one of the most effective tools in boosting morale is our “Caught You Doing Something Right” card, which acknowledges some specific positive action or behavior a team member has executed. We keep stacks of these cards in the employee break room, call center, and any other room a team member enters. We started using them as a management tool, and now everyone has access to them. An employee may open his office drawer and find a “Caught You Doing Something Right” card thanking him for helping someone through a mini crisis the day before. Most employees collect and save these cards.

Our management team is required to catch people doing things right on a regular basis. This is so embedded in our culture that we now have a spreadsheet with every employee’s name down one side and each manager’s name across the top. The manager fills in the date he or she last sent that employee a “Caught You Doing Something Right” card. This way we can spot when someone hasn’t been recognized in a while and immediately “catch” him or her.

We have even held “Caught You Doing Something Right” contests, and the employee who gives the most cards wins a gift certificate to a nice restaurant. The entire team really gets into it. One shy employee went home one night and wrote out over 100 personalized cards to everyone on our staff.

John R. DiJulius III, author of The Customer Service Revolution, is president of The DiJulius Group, a customer service consulting firm that works with companies that include Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, Ritz-Carlton, Nestle, PwC, Lexus. Contact him at 216-839-1430 or info@thedijuliusgroup.com.