29th January 2020
2020: The Year of the Employee Idea: Bob Kelleher – The Employee Engagement Group
This content was taken from our latest eBook: ‘2020: The Year of the Employee Idea: Employee Ideas from our global Engagement 101 Influencers’. To download the eBook in full. simply click here.
Bob Kelleher
Founder
The Employee Engagement Group
One Simple and Great Idea: Program Recognition into Outlook A few years back, I visited one of my client’s remote offices, a known high-performing site. While there, I noticed a palpable buzz in the air. Everyone I encountered in the halls greeted me in a similar fashion. Navigating the rows of work stations, I noticed that most everyone appeared totally focused on their jobs, but that their focus was occasionally interrupted by laughter and healthy banter. Walking by conference rooms, I saw people standing up, scribbling on flip charts, obviously in the midst of brainstorming sessions.
While having dinner that night with some members of the office’s management team, I mentioned what I’d seen and asked how they’d achieved it. One gentleman explained that a few years back, a junior employee had observed to the office manager that no one in the office ever seemed to go out of their way to recognize anyone’s contributions. Sure, the office wasn’t performing at its current levels, but there certainly was enough positive activity to merit the occasional compliment! Yet, it wasn’t happening. “What if,” the junior employee said, “every employee was instructed to set aside a block of time to recognize others?” The employee went on to suggest that all employees be required to create a recurring Microsoft Outlook reminder for just this purpose. They could select any window that fit their schedule, but they had to commit to recognizing someone — a colleague, subordinate, boss, client, vendor, whoever — on a weekly basis. See, this young employee understood that if people get recognized, they tend to recognize others. Suddenly, employees were being recognized more than ever before . . . and the culture was transformed. So simple, so impactful, and so programmed!
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This content was taken from our latest eBook: ‘2020: The Year of the Employee Idea: Employee Ideas from our global Engagement 101 Influencers’. To download the eBook in full. simply click here.