This is the age of “constant recognition,” especially for little stuff.
—Tom Peters
9 |
CHAPTER |
HABIT NINE
Set up a project recognition system
REWARD INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE
For any professional, there is magical power in small wins on meaningful work. Recognize contributions and reward at the individual or small group level (Habit 9), and celebrate success at the project level (Habit 8)—two different habits. Many companies have a Christmas party or summer picnic, but those are generally at the corporate level. Project leaders go out of their way to catch team members doing innovative things and reward them instantly.
On one power project, the project manager believed that the reward for extraordinary work needed to be made by the functional department and not the project. While the functional department also has the responsibility to show appreciation for good work, the project can harness a great deal of additional creativity and innovation from such individuals by extending instant recognition.
Setting up a reward and recognition system encourages efficiency, fosters innovation, and energizes “out-of-the-box” thinking. The main objective of introducing a project reward and recognition system is to ensure that team members feel appreciated and know that their work has not gone unnoticed. It also serves as a great way of pushing the team to do better throughout the project life cycle.
Project leaders will foster a culture of encouragement and acknowledgment among their deputies and core team leads. Ensure that the entire project team is aware of the reward and recognition system, and that the criteria for expected levels of performance are clearly defined up front so that decisions made are perceived as fair and just. If poor performers are awarded recognition, it can actually negatively affect team morale. Once put into place, the reward and recognition system should be highly achievable. Dilbert has a tale about an instance where a company decided that instead of raises, it will give bonuses if five of seven company goals are met. At the end of the year, the employees are informed that the company has met only four of the goals, so no bonuses. One of the goals they missed was “employee morale.”
On one IT project, the setup of the reward system was viewed by most team members as unfair and a way to give extra bonuses to friends and sidekicks. This type of behavior has an opposite effect. Team members are incentivized in the wrong way with an adverse effect on discretionary efforts. Most team members did not want to work for that project manager again.
Rewards and recognition can come in both monetary (extrinsic) and nonmonetary (intrinsic) forms. Monetary forms can include cash incentives, instant bonuses, and special perks, such as off-site training. Nonmonetary forms can include appreciative feedback from supervisors/managers, recognition in front of peers, and certificates/plaques. A good practice is to have a balanced mix of rewards and recognition, as different people are motivated by different factors. Rewards should also be large enough and commensurate with each desired level of performance. Project leaders can set up the reward and recognition system on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. However, rewards that are more timely and consistent tend to result in greater satisfaction. If you want good people to work for you again on another project, this habit must be developed. The world is getting smaller all the time, and you will likely run into the same people again over the length of your career.
Recognition → Discretionary Efforts
The business strategy behind this habit is to harness discretionary and creative efforts of team members. Several studies indicate that this can enhance productivity by almost 30%. Ownership (Habit 1) and responsibility (Habit 2) are reinforced by incentives and rewards. Make sure ALL team members are included in the system. Also make sure that the goals are realistic so that there is an honest opportunity to meet them. Project leaders always personalize recognition. They don't use emails or secretaries to recognize people. There is a saying that “99.99% of the world goes to bed hungry for recognition.”
As pointed out by Tom Peters, this is an age of constant and instant recognition partly due to a multigenerational workforce working together. The expectations and value system of the Gen Xers and the Millennials are decidedly different. Almost a third of the workforce consists of Millennials who respond better to honest recognition. A project leader will make use of Habit 9 to get the best performance from the human resources deployed on the project.