Part 2: Recognition
A series of lessons from the front lines of managing teams
Happy Sunday! Helen here with our weekly installment, a continuation of a series I started on managing teams effectively. I kicked this off a few weeks ago with a post on how to onboard Product Managers, and this week, I will share how I think about recognizing teams and individuals.
My key insight over the years is that it’s almost impossible to recognize and say thank you enough to people around you. Every person I have managed and worked with has gone further and worked harder when they felt seen and appreciated for their contributions. However, doing it authentically and in a meaningful way is the art that requires thoughtfulness.
As a manager, I view ways to recognize people as a set of tools in my toolbox. Depending on circumstances, some are more available to me than others. Before discussing the different types of rewards, I want to share three things I believe to be true in a high-functioning organization.
Context matters—It is important to know how people who work for you like to be rewarded. If you are building a relationship and haven’t worked with this individual, a simple question of “What motivates you?” will open the door to this understanding. Remember that the first answer is often not complete, so keep digging.
No gold stars for doing your job—Thank people for a job well done but not for doing their job. For example, I don’t thank people for meeting deadlines we agree upon, but I do thank people for meeting deadlines despite x number of things that randomized them in the process, making it hard to achieve the initially defined goal. The difference is subtle but important.
A reward for good work is getting to work on bigger, harder things. The opportunity to be trusted with the business’s most impactful challenges is a reward for a job well done. I won’t cover this as a type of reward in this write-up, but it's important to put this into perspective with people on your team.
I categorize recognition into the following 4 buckets: financial, experiential, symbolic, and social signal. In this post, I will discuss which tool I pull out for what situations and pitfalls to avoid.
💰 Financial Rewards
This is the most obvious and clear type of recognition that sends signals and also one that is most “regulated” and organized in companies around review cycles, bureaucracies, and hierarchies.
Examples: promotions, merit increases for high performance, variable compensation, and spot bonuses
Great managers understand how the system works and how to maximize it to reward their team. If you are not aware of how your organization thinks about recognition from beginning to end, you may be missing an opportunity to secure additional resources for your team.
Here are some questions you should be able to get answers to from your people/HR team:
What are the inputs into how the rewards budget is allocated?
What budget is at your disposal vs. your managers’ disposal?
Do promotions vs. merit increases vs. spot bonuses come from the same budget?
If you have a budget at your disposal, are you expected to use all of the budget you have during the rewards season?
Is there an opportunity to do off-cycle promotions if there is merit?
What’s the path for spot bonuses?
Pitfalls to avoid: It’s easy to not fight for more money for people who are not constantly asking for it. So make sure that you are watching to not overlook people who aren’t asking for more money and/or promotions. It is natural to listen to the squeaky wheels, but don’t accidentally ignore your quiet employees who trust that you will do the right things for them based on their work.
🏖️ Experiential Rewards
When you look at your tool kit and what’s available, understand what experience-based things are available. Some will be centrally managed and locally approved (sabbaticals), and some will likely be completely in your control as a manager.
Examples: Bonus day off, lunch and a movie as a team, a reward trip, sabbaticals, volunteering as a team, tickets to a sporting event, etc. Here is what I have seen be used as experience awards:
Vacations - Top sellers get to go on a tropical vacation for a week after a good year. I know some companies do a week-long annual vacation as an entire company and invite families to join, too.
Sabbaticals—Many companies offer an extended period of time off as a reward for years of service. Usually, these require manager approval, so as one who approves them, congratulate and encourage your employees to take advantage of this recognition.
Day off - if your team had to be on call and give up their weekends and/or evenings, giving them a day off to make up for it is meaningful
Milestone rewards - on one of my teams, we used to take a half day off after hitting a milestone. We would go get lunch and see a movie as a team
Box tickets - often companies have access to sporting event boxes and these can be used as rewards
Participating in a conference - whether getting to work at a booth and talk to customers, giving a talk and a demo on your work, or going to a conference to learn - these can and should be considered as rewards and an opportunity to be an ambassador for your company and team
Pitfalls to avoid:
Not everyone likes more team time as a reward. So if you have people on your team who’d prefer not to have “team fun,” normalize opting out.
Be clear if you are sending someone to a conference, whether this is a reward experience or a work requirement, and approach it accordingly.
🏆 Symbolic Rewards
Examples: trophies/ribbons, certificates, handwritten thank you notes, superlative awards
I like these rewards because so many are at the manager’s discretion, they are fun to do, and they can be meaningful mementos to people who receive them. Nothing is preventing you from writing a handwritten note and mailing it to express gratitude or from creating homegrown certificates on your team to celebrate people’s accomplishments.
Pitfalls to avoid: The most meaningful part is the few bullets explaining why the person receiving it is worthy. As a manager, when asked to provide that input, take the time to share your insight!
👏🏻 Social signal
This is the simplest and easiest to forget - the daily recognition for small victories.
Examples: public praise in meetings, 1:1s, Slack messages, emails, ambassador of the work
Here is how I approach it:
End every meeting with a positive sentiment. There is always something positive to reflect on, and I try to remember to do it at the end
When someone does a good job with driving to a decision, synthesizing insights, etc., I forward it to others both for awareness but also highlighting what I liked about the work
1:1 positive feedback - just as I send constructive feedback pretty immediately, I try to send kudos after interactions with people on my team. Something as simple as “I learned a lot from your presentation” or “I thought you did a good job driving us to clarity.”
Pitfalls to avoid: The biggest one here is not doing it or worrying about perfecting it. Try to say thank you quickly and earnestly. If you get caught up and know that you need reminders, put time on your calendar to do it once a week for 15 minutes.
Thanks for reading, and please drop in comments anything you have done to recognize your teams or you have been on the receiving end of that has left an impression.