Leaders, You don’t Just …

You don’t just need to know who you are and what you stand for,

You need to know how your values and actions are perceived by others.

You don’t just need to know the ‘why’ behind any organizational change,  

You need to know what (in) tangibles people are gaining and losing with the change.

           

You don’t just need to be a strong and determined leader who’s in control,

You need to know when to let others lead while taking a humble backseat yourself.

You don’t just need to be able to hold others accountable transparently and consistently,

You need to walk the talk, act accountable, and say “I made a mistake - I’m sorry.”

You don’t just need to have a ‘Leadership Philosophy’,

You need to show it in your decisions and actions, on a daily basis.

You don’t just need to continuously strengthen your Emotional Intelligence (EI),

You need to ask others to provide you with candid feedback and do an EI 360 assessment.

You don’t just need to take care of business and of people,

You need to take care of YOU first and last, in the right kind of way of course.

Key to it all: Mind the Gap and Bridge the Gap, whatever the gap is.

Recognition and engagement

Studies. Articles. Programs. We have plenty of it all on the topic, including very complicated ones. But recognition and engagement can be simple and easy. I’ll spare you the research and instead provide you with ideas to start or improve your recognition program. Apply the suggestions below and your employees will work more enthusiastically and effectively, their commitment, effort, quality, safety, absenteeism, and retention will improve, and as a result your customers will be more satisfied. I leave it up to your imagination what this can do to your growth and revenue.

Nine Recognition Premises

1.    People appreciate and need day-to-day recognition.

2.    People do not like to be taken for granted.

3.    People need to know how they add value and meaning.

4.    In many cultures, people crave individual credit.

5.    What motivates a person is a personal matter.

6.    You need to observe and listen to really learn about your employees.

7.    You want to measure and recognize what really matters.

8.    People need clear personal goals that are linked to organizational goals

9.    It is important to take cultural differences into account[1]

Nine Recognition Tools

1.    Practice common courtesy and respect, every day, with everyone.

2.    Find out what methods of appreciation appeal to your team members.

3.    Give meaningful feedback and acknowledge contributions openly.

4.    Encourage people to praise each other verbally or with notes.

5.    Provide professional and career development opportunities.

6.    Apply a performance-based rewards and recognition program.

7.    Develop a business excellence and a leadership award program.  

8.    Consider inventor recognition and a research achievers circle.

9.    Use employee engagement software that fits your industry and organization.

Final pitch

Acknowledge people in a way that is both meaningful and motivational, and do it on a regular basis, on the spot. Make it part of your leadership and enjoy the employee, customer, and organizational benefits.

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[1] Two examples: Japan has a collectivist culture where workers generally don’t want to stand out from the group and in the Middle East managers are often viewed as teachers two name just two.