Team Rewards and Recognition

Going to work each and everyday can be very stressful and at times we don't even want to crawl out of bed. I see my parents go through it sometimes, and often I don't feel like going to work after school. The top to two things people in their work want are being recognized as a contributing member and recognition and reward after their accomplishments. I feel with those two key important things, people often feel more positive about going to work. People want to know that what they do at their job has value to the company, marketplace or better yet the project. This can strongly relate to team work as recognition from others keeps a positive team. The leader has to communicate that every person in the group and the work they do has value to the success of the team. Some roles may be obvious to us, meaning without them the team would not be successful or reach full potential but reinforcement that "you are doing a great job, keep up the work" or "your great accomplishments help the rest of the team with their tasks" is often things workers like to here. 

Recognition and rewards can come in many forms. Accomplishment on tem projects needs to be publicized, and individual accomplishment within teams should lead to actions that make it clear that team participation and success lead to opportunities. One other thing about rewards and recognition is they can get lost in the overload of work and stress. As we all know people tend to get very busy while at work and often don't have time for some things. Schedule regular review times - at least monthly, to determine who should be recognized and rewarded and make it a very public ceremony or meeting. If you cannot name people off the top of your head congratulate and thank the team as a whole and evaluate how the team is performing. Just hearing that helps people stay positive and strive towards the next goal. 

Review the essentials and copare them to the goals you set at the beginning of the project, then change what you need to change in order to improve success. Doing so will ensure that you are accessing what could be done better in order to make every succeed in the role they are working. I personally feel the "one positive and one negative" is a great reminder. For example:

"You forgot to attach the cover page on this letter, but the content of the letter was very well written."

This is getting the point across to the member of the team, that yes they forgot something, but you do recognize the work and effort they have put in. A simple positive statement is often a reward we like to here. We don't always want the negatives, but following up with the positives often is a lot more beneficial and in the end, a more positive approach to lead your group in to the future with a great outcome. Below is a funny little video clip that we can all understand what a reward is to our employees. It doesn't have to this big, but something as small as a lunch can relieve the stress off people and make them feel recognized for their hard work and efforts.