Supervisor Success: Mastering People Skills & Cultivating High-Performing Teams is a monthly series from UCOR’s Human Resources Manager Mary Alice Douglass designed to support front line supervisors.
Recognizing and rewarding your team members is a really powerful way to show appreciation, reinforce good work, and keep everyone motivated and engaged.It’s not just about big annual awards. Frequent, timely recognition, both formal and informal, makes people feel truly valued. It validates their hard work and encourages them to keep doing great things.
Good recognition is specific, heartfelt, and directly tied to what the person did. Make it a point to notice good work and acknowledge it regularly. Remember, not everyone likes the same type of recognition—some prefer a quiet thank you, others a shout-out in a meeting. So know your team’s preferences.
Try this: Make giving specific, positive verbal recognition a daily habit. Find one specific action or contribution from a team member to acknowledge each day.
Also, try this: Set up a simple “peer recognition” system where team members can quickly and publicly thank each other for contributions in your team’s communication channel.
Avoid this: Don’t give generic praise like “good job” without explaining what was good about it. And don’t wait for huge milestones to recognize people; frequent, smaller acknowledgments often have a bigger impact.
