How to Reward Team Members

 

This post's podcast episode is available at Sounder, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify.

When you are short of time, here is the one action that will give you 80 percent results in 20 percent of the time.

DO THIS

Recognize people’s efforts through small gifts.

BY DOING THIS

–        Identify milestones to recognize with gifts

–        Ask leaders to present the gifts at team meetings, highlighting the efforts that led to the achievements

–         Profile the next milestone’s tasks and express confidence they’ll be achieved

People have a need to be recognized for work that is meaningful and necessary for success. From recognition to gifts, rewards play an important role in maintaining morale, focus, and performance. They acknowledge people’s hard work and give them confidence in their future contributions.

Celebrating accomplishments with peers is especially effective because everyone knows how difficult the tasks were to achieve. Small gifts have symbolic value because they’re tangible reminders of the achievement and the organization’s appreciation for it. They also help the leader write a narrative about people’s efforts and their impact on success, positioning team members as protagonists rising to the challenge who will do so again in the future.

Being specific about how a person or team accomplished the task personalizes the recognition, making it more meaningful, especially when shared with friends and family (“My boss said that I saved the day.”)

Rewards that can be shared and enjoyed outside of work, like movie tickets or leaving early on a Friday, have the greatest impact. They communicate that people’s personal lives are important and haven't been forgotten by leaders.  

KNOWLEDGE BITES

REWARDS PLANNING TOOL: What rewards will I give my project team?

SUCCESS TIP

Taking photos of the recognition ceremonies and sharing them broadly and visibly supercharge their meaning and impact.

For more stories, insights and advice, listen to the Rewarding Team Members podcast episode with CFO/COO and change leader Matt Lloyd.

Phil Buckley is the author of Change on the Run and Change with Confidence, host of the Change on the Run Podcast, and co-creator of the Sharing Change with Confidence Newsletter.

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