Often, leaders who strive to improve work performance tend to overlook employee recognition as a great solution. Of course, it is a way to make the employee experience more enjoyable, but how much impact can it actually have? The answer is quite a lot.
The potential positive outcomes and applications of employee recognition are much more significant than many people think. Continue reading to find out why employee recognition is among the most undervalued ways to enhance work performance and how you can make it beneficial to your organization.
Improving work performance is crucial
In order to lead a successful team, you need more than just picking the right people for the right roles. The truth is, even the most talented employees and their performance will suffer in a negative work environment. Also, weaker employees’ performance can be improved if they have resources, support, and motivation, as well as you can elevate the performance of strong employees to new heights.
To some degree, enhancing work performance depends on an individual employee’s will to improve, although the company plays a big role too. Most employees agree that company culture directly affects their productivity, efficiency, and commitment to company goals. Therefore, the responsibility of enhancing performance largely falls to the company.
You may understand that, but actually knowing how to support workplace performance is another thing.
Moreover, there are many different ways to approach this challenge, ranging from leveraging employee recognition programs to offering continued learning to achieve strategic goals.
In this article, we will cover some recommendations that are meant to reinforce behaviors that contribute to better job performance. Keep in mind that the correlation between employee recognition and employee engagement means that no matter what you recognize your employee for, the best way to improve work performance is through recognition programs.
Ways to improve work performance
These recommendations will help you improve workplace performance through employee recognition. If you have a program in place or are looking for a way to optimize an editing program, these strategies will help you bring your team’s performance to another level.
1. Move your team toward specific goals
The majority of recognition programs are connected to occasions that employees can recognize one another for. The company needs to decide what these occasions will be. It can be anything from recognizing milestones to celebrating teamwork. Suppose the goal of your employee recognition program is to enhance work performance. In that case, it is a good idea to use company-wide or major team objectives as your employee recognition occasions.
Here is why this is effective:
- It stresses the importance of goals
- It allows keeping goals top of mind
- It provides an opportunity to celebrate achievements
2. Improve relationships within your team
It is natural to want to know how your work is valued and appreciated. However, quite often, teammates neglect this essential step of mutual appreciation. For all the effort put into delivering top-notch work on behalf of your company, employees have to be recognized by their peers and managers. Note that a lack of recognition at work does not necessarily mean that colleagues do not appreciate one another; it means that they are not used to saying it.
3. Help employees discover their strengths
Among the reasons why managers need to speak about things, they appreciate their employees for is due to the practice of recognition that allows employees to understand how they add value. Employee recognition takes only a couple of minutes while letting a team member know why their work is important and giving that person an insight into their strength.
Employee recognition benefits employees and employers alike
If implemented correctly, employee recognition programs can be among the most effective ways to enhance work performance across the organization. These programs contribute to employee experience while contributing to a stronger company overall. By emphasizing individual strengths, you encourage employees to keep major values and goals in mind. You build peer-to-peer relationships across departments, as a little recognition can go a long way.
