How can team & staff recognition/appreciation boost morale & productivity?

Written by Katy Mason, on behalf of Virtually Smart

“Whilst out for breakfast with my parents over the weekend, we were suddenly aware of the Manager of the restaurant carrying a large birthday cake, with candles alight, into the restaurant.

We started to look around for the recipient, perhaps a family who had headed out for a birthday breakfast. The Manager was followed by all of the other staff & she stopped by the table next to us & they all burst into a rendition of Happy Birthday.

The recipient of the cake was an employee, who, having worked frantically during the breakfast run, was enjoying his breakfast. He was overwhelmed & shocked & as the Happy Birthday finished, the staff & most of the customers all cheered & clapped.

What an incredible gesture & a wonderful way to make the employee feel valued & a part of the team.

Every Monday I join a Teams meeting for one of the Virtually Smart clients. Every Monday the CEO’s first comments are not about deadlines, expectations or how the project is advancing, instead they are a thank you for the hard work the team are putting in. The Thank You always extends to an appreciation for all of the work the team are bringing together, even in these challenging times.

When the client’s team join the meeting, it must give them a boost to hear their CEO recognising their efforts & commending the extraordinary way in which the team pulls together.

We have spoken about Compassionate Management a few times over the years & these two examples are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to staff care, appreciation & recognition.

Jeff Weiner, the former CEO & now Executive Chairman of LinkedIn has championed Compassionate Management since he was inspired by the teachings of the Dalai Lama. The ethos of Weiner’s management style recognises the difference between empathy & compassion citing “Compassion is maintaining enough distance where you can actually do something about the way the other person feels,” (1)

Weiner recognises other people’s unique strengths & has sometimes even changed their role so that it’s better aligned to those strengths. “When you do that, you unlock value that’s not possible when you’re only looking at the world through your own lens.” (1)

With the UK having seen the most challenging employment situation since WW2 during the Covid pandemic & us still finding our way through the challenges this entails; is it time for employees to have more recognition, more appreciation for their skills & their hard work?

With many employers accepting & in a lot of areas encouraging hybrid working, perhaps we are going some way to finding a more compassionate & flexible style of management for the future & hopefully this will lead to more examples of open recognition & appreciation from Senior Leaders & Employers alike.”

Written by Katy Mason, on behalf of Virtually Smart