Recognition – Make it a habit

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The company introduced a new recognition system some time back where by people can send a recognition card based on the company values. It was, and to some extent, avoided by some, distrusted by others, and completely unknown to the rest. The initial thought by many was this was yet another HR initiative that we'll all be forced to use and no one will get any benefit from it.

The company introduced a new recognition system some time back where by people can send a recognition card based on the company values. It was, and to some extent, avoided by some, distrusted by others, and completely unknown to the rest. The initial thought by many was this was yet another HR initiative that we'll all be forced to use and no one will get any benefit from it.

That is of course, until people started getting them.

I had one developer come up and tell me, “You know, I thought this whole idea of this system was lame, but when I actually got a couple sent to me, it actually made me feel good”. Bingo, that little centre of the brain fired up and triggered the dopamine associated with reward. It doesn't take much thought as a manager to find ways of rewarding people on our team, but it’s not a habit for many people and it does take a little time.  The net effect is that it has the chance to makes someone’s day. I can’t think why we wouldn't want to do this as managers.

Furthermore, people can reward each other. Initially there was a review process in place where the manager had to “approve” the recognition, but we challenged this approach as people should be able to raise recognition for anyone else without having a manager put a dampener on things by forgetting to approve or worse yet, rejecting the proposal. Seriously, who would even do that?

Cynics of this of course take it to the extreme (as they often do to prove the point) saying that people will “game” the system and raise countless recognitions for each other. But honestly, who is going to sit there at work and collaborate on raising a reward card for someone just so they can get one in return.

The fact that anyone can raise a card on anyone is totally awesome, especially in a development group. Developers are experts in finding mistakes, looking for problems, finding defects, but being good at those activities also makes them occasionally blind to the positive aspects of the work place. This gives people the opportunity to recognise the positive aspects of their work environment.

Doing a little research on the topic, I found a few things. People who receive praise feel appreciated, respected, more motivated, and more engaged in their work as a result. The increased dopamine levels also lead that person to want to experience that same feeling again which helps cement good working habits and behaviour. What stood out however was that research shows that the person giving the feedback often gets as much, if not, more value out of giving as the person does receiving. So, in essence, each “applause” card has the chance to make 2 peoples day, with all the positive effects associated. Who wouldn't want to encourage that?

Last year, I set myself a personal goal to recognise at least one person per sprint. It doesn't seem like much now, but it was an achievable goal I could build on. To help build the habit, I set up a quick survey as part of each sprint where people could give points out to the person who helped them out the most. This gave everyone an opportunity to contribute to giving as well as a chance to receive one of these coveted MVP awards. Most people really appreciated it and to be honest, it was an excellent source of data when it came to performance reviews at the end of the year. At the risk of getting into a discussion on objectives in an agile software team, I found this to be a great way of providing concrete feedback on people who are regularly being recognised by their peers for helping. I didn’t only enter recognition based on the survey, I also found myself looking for opportunities once I got the hang of it.

The great thing was that I was able to get a few nominations pushed forward for monthly recognition, and another even got elevated as a successful annual award. It felt good to see one of my guys up there getting recognised for the hard work that I know he put in, and I'll admit it, I felt good too.

So, if you’re not in the habit of recognising your peers, or people on your team, what’s holding you back?