• There are many ways to help make personal recognition of employees effective.

The following are guidelines and suggestions to help make personal recognition of employees as effective as possible. Make sure the recognition is:

• Specific — Recognize a specific behavior, event, or accomplishment. Describing it in detail will carry more meaning in the worker’s mind than simply saying, “Hey, nice job!”
• Sincere — Employees will quickly see through any lip service recognition. To be effective, recognition should be genuine and heartfelt.
• Timely — Thanking someone for actions taken three weeks ago will have little impact on an employee today, and may actually do more harm than good.
• Fair and consistent — In a typical company, not all relationships are cordial. Because of this, it is extremely important not to let personal feelings or bad chemistry play a part in personal recognition.
• Unconditional — True praise should ask for no work, response, or even leave room for a response from the recipient. A statement such as, “Pat, your performance is outstanding. Your numbers are by far our best. How are you doing it?” may not be true praise at all.