Recognition

At work the subject of employee recognition has come up a lot lately. A lot of people don't feel like they and their efforts are recognized or appreciated by management and peers as much or as often as they'd like.

Some efforts have been made to celebrate achievements by posting achievers' pictures on the wall labeled with their achievements. That's nice, but it's apparently not enough. It's also not the kind of recognition that means much to me.

There's more to recognition than public or private praise. What's far more meaningful to me is recognition that the people matter backed up by action. An example: my manager ordered new work shirts for me without being asked and got my size and color right. That shows I was important enough to her that she'd pay attention to my needs and meet them without prompting. It's a small thing, but that gesture showed me I was appreciated.

Now that I'm aware of the kinds of recognition that mean the most to me, I want to show my co-workers how much I value them with my actions as well as my words. It's really not that hard once I know what to do.