Recognition Will Turbo Charge Your Team Performance

To have a high performing team you need an employee recognition strategy

‘Team’ is the new leader in town. The impact of high performing teams has been dissected and researched intensively by some pretty smart brains over the last few years. Google dedicated a whole project (Aristotle) to trying to find out why some teams thrive and some teams fail and EY studied the characteristics of high performing teams.

Here at RedBalloon for Business we’ve spent the last 10 years studying teams through acts of recognition. Yes, we have witnessed the hundreds of thousands of different ways people choose to thank each other at work.

We’ve seen how a simple act of gratitude can transform teams. And that those who practice regular recognition are always way above the company average in their engagement scores.

These hot teams are the ones everyone wishes they could be part of…. So what are they getting that other teams are not?

The role of employee recognition in teams

Simple, frequent acknowledgement for their contribution by their peers. They are taking the time out of their busy days to take a moment notice the work of another person.

A deeper level of connection and transparency through empathy. Recognising people and putting yourself in their shoes makes you feel good.

Increased motivation through higher engagement. Research by Josh Bersin found that in organisations where recognition occurs, employee engagement, productivity and customer service are about 14 percent better than in those where recognition does not occur.

As humans, whether we are conscious of it or not, we crave these small acknowledgements that remind us that what we do is appreciated. We want to matter to someone.

It used to be the case that people left bad managers. Managers that were terrible at acknowledging contribution or worse, taking the credit for your work. But now people are choosing to leave teams for the same reasons. Don’t let them go…