The Secret to Staying on Track with your Goals

As another year comes to a close, it's a good time to reflect on what you have accomplished for the year and at this point in your career/business.  We don't often take time to reflect, yet it is the secret to staying on course to achieve your goals (business or personal).

Reflection helps to put your experiences, accomplishments, and setbacks in perspective, then allows you to put them in context and interpret their deeper meaning.  A deeper understanding of where you've been and where you are now can help you to create, in a more meaningful way, where you go next -- both personally and professionally.

Joseph Campbell, renowned scholar and author on cultural mythology, identified a common cycle of events in heroic myths that exists across cultures.  Campbell's hero typically follows this pattern:

• departs from his ordinary world in search of something or is enticed away from his comfort zone
• encounters tests through adversity or temptation
• meets various archetypal characters along the way who help or hinder him
• finds what he set out for (and sometimes almost loses it
• returns to the ordinary world with a new thing or idea for himself psychologically or that will change mankind.

Sound familiar?  Hollywood loves this formula, and George Lucas intentionally used the work of Joseph Campbell when he wrote Star Wars.  You may not see yourself as the "Luke Skywalker" type, yet each person experiences this cycle throughout their lives and even multiple cycles over time.

So, take time to intentionally think about the people, gains/losses, and work events that happened over the past year.  Each of these can carry a deeper meaning upon reflection that can guide you forward.

  

Over the past year, what did you notice about your interactions with certain employees, colleagues, clients, or competitors?  For example, was there someone you met who provided sage advice from which you benefited? Was there someone at work who seemed to constantly prod you or test you?  Or was there a competitor you saw as being against you who, underneath it all, might be teaching you something about yourself or your business?  Reflect on what you learned from them all, especially as it relates to the trajectory of your professional and business goals.

Reflect on gains or losses over the past year.  What were you striving towards and why? Did you experience great success with a business product or service only to discover that it backfired a bit because your team didn't handle the increased demand as deftly as they could have?  Did you work hard to land a new client only to find out that it wasn't a good working relationship in the end?  Were you able to find a the right product/market fit after struggling for a time to find your niche?  Did you hit the jackpot in some way?

What does the gains/losses you experienced tell you about you or your business?  That is, in the pursuit of a gain or avoidance of pain, were there instances where you were tempted by greed, stuck in a rut with fear, or chose duty over something else?  In the face of loss, did you find strength you didn't know you had? Or learn something extraordinary about yourself or others that will guide your pursuits going forward?

Look at the events you were a part of this year.  Did a project or idea catch your attention in a big way? Did you enter an entirely new career or lifestyle? Did you experience a rocky patch in your work, relationships, health, or other aspect of your life, whether or not by choice?  Are you close to a break though that will be a game changer for your work?  How do work events over the past year fit within the context of your life in a broader sense?

Now, upon reflection, are you on track with your intended work outcomes?  Where do you go next?

I wish you Happy Holidays and a Prosperous New Year.

  

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWSLETTER, BLOG OR WEBSITE? You can, as long as you include this information with it: 

Beth Strathman is the Executive Coach for senior leaders who want to challenge themselves to get focused and get results. Learn more about her company Firebrand Consulting at: 

http://www.firebrandconsulting.blogspot.com.

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Is Your Team Culture "Incognito"?

 Incognito:  with your true identity kept secret.

Merriam-Webster.com

With the recent allegations of bullying regarding Richie Incognito of the Miami Dolphins, I started to think about the team’s leadership and its role in creating and reinforcing the team’s culture through its standards of conduct.  What would you do as a leader to define and enforce proper conduct on the job when the industry demands unrelenting, hard-hitting mental and physical toughness and violence?  What is acceptable conduct toward teammates or even opponents?  Are teammates able to navigate the contexts for when hurtful or violent behavior is OK (on the field) and when it is not (with teammates)?  Did the formal leaders (coaches) abrogate their roles by asking one teammate to develop another?

It’s a leader’s responsibility to define, model, enact and reinforce company and team culture.  Culture is the set of shared norms, experiences, and beliefs that distinguish one organization from another.  It defines what is acceptable and not acceptable within the group.   And underlying the culture are shared assumptions about the way the world works.  In some sports organizations, is there an assumption that to be physically tough on the field you have to be physically tough off the field as well?

Leaders, whether formal or informal, reinforce and redefine cultural norms based on how they act, what they pay attention to, what they praise and reinforce in others, and how they react when challenges occur. Richie Incognito is a member of the Dolphins' player council.  So, whether or not the allegations are found to be true, Incognito’s conduct – whatever it really was -- most likely has carried weight with the team to this point.  Arguably, other team members looked to him for how to behave.

In additional to leaders, superstar performers on your team must be held to the same standards as everyone else; otherwise, a mixed message is received by your employees, muddying the waters about what is expected.  Such a mixed message can signal employees that it’s everyone for himself, leading to a lack of trust and a team that doesn’t work together toward a common goal.

Are your team leaders and superstars consistently displaying the kind of behavior that reinforces your team culture?  If not, what are you prepared to do about it?

We don’t know what Richie Incognito’s behavior was at this point.  He could have conducted himself in a very appropriate manner, or he could have crossed the line with his behavior toward his teammate.  Either way, was the Miami Dolphins’ team culture evident in his behavior . . . or was it “incognito”?

Three Leadership Behaviors That Increase Employees’ Happiness (and Productivity) at Work

A happy employee is a productive employee.  Studies have shown that happy people are more successful generally, experience increased employee satisfaction, earn higher pay throughout a career, and exhibit enhanced job performance. 

Specifically, research shows that compared to unhappy employees, those who are happy at work are:

·         Twice as productive;

·         Stay 5 times longer with an employer;

·         Are 6 times more energized;

·         Use 10 times less sick leave;

·         Are helpful to colleagues 33% more of the time;

·         Achieving 31% more of their goals;

·         Are 36% more motivated than their colleagues; and

·         Raise performance issues 46% more often.

Sounds like a manager’s dream!  So, what must leaders do to create “happier” (and more productive) workplaces?  The answers are simple and not necessarily easy.

1.            Help Employees Use Their Strengths; Don’t Focus on Weaknesses.

To create happier places for employees, help them focus on their strengths.  (This is good advice for yourself, too.)  Now, this seems a bit odd, since you’ve probably believed that bolstering weaknesses would make people “better”.  Although it might be counterintuitive, the research is clear. 

In a psychological study, bowlers were divided into groups.  After receiving instructions, the groups practiced bowling. Some groups were videotaped; others were not.  Of those videotaped, one group saw only positive things they did, and the other group saw only the negative.  Those who saw only the positive improved significantly over the rest of the bowlers (videotaped and not).  Among the most unskilled bowlers, those who saw only the positive videotapes improved significantly more than anyone (Cooperrider, 1990).  (Having second thoughts on how your company does performance evaluations and give feedback in general?)

What do I mean by a “strength”?  I don’t mean simply the activities and skills employees are good at, although that’s a start.  Marcus Buckingham takes “strengths” a step further when he says that strengths are the things that you are good at AND in which you lose yourself while doing them AND that energize you.

Have you ever been working on a project at home or work and looked up to see that much more time had passed than you realized?  Maybe you spent an evening dancing with friends, writing, painting, listening to others tell their stories . . . if the time passed quickly and you felt energized after doing it, you were in what is known as “flow”, and that activity could be a strength for you.

You can facilitate the process of employees discovering their strengths with resources, including Strengths Finder, Strengths Based Leadership and Buckingham’s own Stand Out.

Once an employee determines her strengths, help her find ways to do more work activities that them.  Build more of activities that use her strengths into the job or encourage an employee to apply for another job in your company that could incorporate more of her strengths.

So, while maintaining an adequate level of competence at something that isn’t a strength is usually required on the job, employees are better served (and by extrapolation so is the company) if they can do more work activities that showcase their strengths and get more feedback about how they are doing with respect to their strengths.

2.            Create a Sense of Belonging and Contribution

So, what type of work environment leads to happiness at work?  According to the iOpener Institute for People and Performance, happy employees reported a stronger correlation with the 5 C’s:

Contribution – feeling your efforts make a difference

Conviction – short-term motivation

Culture – feeling you “fit in” at work                                                                     

Commitment – long-term engagement

Confidence – belief in your own abilities

Thus, if employees do not perceive they are making a difference, fit in, or are having impact, chances are they are not happy.  And if they are not happy, they are not as productive as they could be.  These themes are echoed in the Gallup Organization’s Q12.

One way to increase employees’ sense of belonging and contribution is to allow them to use their strengths as noted above, which allows employees the opportunity to do what they do best, let’s employees know you care about them as a person, gives you the opportunity to talk about their progress at work, and lets them know you care about their skill and career development.

3.            Cross the Losada Line

The final tip to creating more happiness at work rests squarely on the shoulders of those in charge.  To increase happiness and productivity at work, count the ratio of positive to negative interaction you have with your employees.  According to research by Marcial Losada, supervisors need to have more positive interactions than negative ones with their employees.   Specifically, a phenomenon known as the “Losada Line” says you must have 2.9013 positive interactions to every negative interaction you’re your employees to make your team moderately successful.  To lead teams to their very best work, you need to raise that ratio to 6 to 1! (Losada, 1999).  How many positive interactions or communications have you given your employees or received from your manager lately?  See.  Not as easy as it sounds . . . especially if your motto has been “no news is good news”.

What small thing can you start doing today that will increase your employees’ happiness at work?

The Personally Productive Leader

You’re smart.  You’re hard-working.  You have a good business model.  You have the necessary resources and good employees.  Yet, you feel as though you get nothing done during the day.  Most of the time, you feel off balance and pulled in a hundred different directions.   Your business isn’t necessarily in trouble, yet you spend more time than you’re comfortable with, feeling unfocused and wondering if you will get everything done.

When looking to increase business productivity, many leaders often look at the structure of their business, employee performance and engagement, and work processes.   And these are excellent places to tweak to make sure the business is hitting on all cylinders.  However, an often-overlooked productivity leak can be the leader’s own personal productivity. You typically aren’t taught that in school.

Leaders underestimate the impact they have on their employees, not realizing that their personalities, habits, values, and focus radiate throughout their businesses or areas of responsibility.  For this reason, any productivity gains from improving company-wide work processes and employee performance can be hampered by a leader who hasn’t examined his own ability to be more personally productive.

Being personally productive doesn’t mean you need to be pitching in and doing the work that is assigned to and more appropriately done by others.  Rather, it requires you to do your own work as leader effectively.  To maximize your personal leadership productivity, start with these three ideas:

1.            Design your calendar to reflect business priorities.  Your business purpose and current goals should be reflected in the strategic plan.  In turn, the strategic goals and priorities must be intentionally reflected in your weekly calendar.  If your company is aiming to increase revenues by 10% over at 24-month period, you must schedule appropriate weekly activities for yourself to make sure you are doing your part to achieve that goal.  Do you need to recognize employees who are going the extra mile toward the company goals?  Do you need to meet with management to monitor progress toward the overall goal?  Do you need to work with a team to help them determine how work processes can be improved to help achieve the goal? 

It seems such a simple concept.  Yet most leaders get caught up in the daily swirl of “administrivia”, losing track of the next steps they must do or follow up on to keep the larger goals and initiatives moving forward.

Be sure to consciously carve out 10-12 hours per week for activities that further important business goals.  The remaining hours of your weekly calendar will reflect the routine activities that normally consume your time – meetings, phone calls, email, keeping up on industry trends, reviewing financials, board business, meeting with key customers, processing through the information that lands in your office, etc.

2.            Create a personal workflow system.  Consciously and intentionally dedicate time everyday to process through the information coming into your office via your physical inbox and email.  Prioritize items to do, again, based on your strategic plan. 

3.            Delegate more.  Many leaders fail to fully utilize their administrative assistants and other professionals in their businesses.  Delegating to others will free up time for you and give those who have the skills and expertise opportunities to take on work that can help them develop.  Delegate it’s not critical that you do it and if it’s appropriate work and responsibility level for the position you want to delegate it to.

Many leaders find that putting these simple steps in place keeps their minds clearer and more focused and reduces stress by creating a support structure that helps them keep their most important work activities in perspective.

Paula and Bubba: A Cautionary Tale for Family Business

Paula Deen has a “long row to hoe”.  The former Food Network star and her businesses are involved in a lawsuit brought by a former General Manager of a restaurant owned by Paula’s brother. Because Paula’s holding company owns part of her brother’s restaurant, she and her businesses, were named as defendants.

The complaint alleges that Paula, her brother, Bubba, and other senior employees exhibited inappropriate workplace conduct, regarding race, sex, and gender.  Among other things, the alleged conduct included employment practices, comments and jokes that were discriminatory based on religion, race, gender, and sex.  The allegations go on to state that Ms. Deen and other senior managers were aware of complaints about Bubba specifically but failed to take appropriate action to stop his conduct.

From her recent appearance on the Today show and from her deposition, it sounds like “big sister” Paula loves her brother and hasn’t accepted the fact that he could have engaged in inappropriate conduct around employees.  If the plaintiff’s allegations are true, Paula as CEO and part owner in Bubba’s restaurant, knew about and failed to address Bubba’s behavior as an employee.  Whatever did or did not happen, it sounds like a family issue impacted the business, now seriously affecting Paula’s livelihood.

Ahh.  The joy of a family business.

Can your family peccadilloes withstand workplace standards?  Some behaviors that are tolerated at home may be unlawful in the workplace.  Just because it’s your company doesn’t give you and your family members freedom to do whatever they want.  As with any other business, your family business is held to the same workplace laws as other businesses.  So, it’s important to be clear with your employee-relatives (and yourself) about what’s expected when they step into their work roles.

If your family dynamics include sexual innuendo and jokes about religion, race, sex or gender, and you carry on this way at work, watch out.  Non-family employees might not share an appreciation of this sense of humor, and state and federal law will back them up.

Are you willing to address the workplace conduct of family members?  Working with family is often a delicate balance that lends itself to avoiding conflict.  How difficult will it be for you as “little sister” to address an issue with a parent or sibling who exhibits inappropriate conduct around employees? And you might get grief from other family members (inside and outside the company) for addressing an issue with a family member.  Are you and your family members prepared for that?  When all is said and done, the CEO and other senior leaders must ensure that touchy issues are addressed, whether it involves family or not.

Drafting a family employment code of conduct could serve as a road map.  To clarify family-employee expectations, you could draft a family code of conduct, which could include standards for performance, behavior, promotions, and accountability for family members working in the business.  Use the standards you would apply to non-family employees as a minimum and have higher expectations for family members. Include language for the process for handling family member conduct violations and poor performance.  Finally, you can include a conflict resolution process and appeal procedures.  The type of appeals process chosen is not as important as the fact that you have one.

As with any investigation, take all complaints seriously – especially those again family members -- and follow up with prompt remedial action as necessary.  It’s hard to take seriously some of the issues employees bring to you, especially if issues are brought to you by those who have a reputation for being “whiners” or “complainers”.   Nonetheless, it’s wise to listen, interview witnesses, and address any wrong-doing through disciplinary action or training.

While we don’t know exactly what happened in Paula Deen’s situation, it’s possible that she wouldn’t be in her current circumstances if she had been better able to separate her feelings as family member from her responsibilities as a business owner.

The Bumpy Road of Managing People

So.  You went for that management job or started your own business, eh?  Guess what?  You are no longer the focus of your work life -- other people are.  Are you sure you wanna do this?

You probably didn’t plan your career this way – at least not consciously so.  If you had wanted to “work with people” and make THEM the focus of your career, you would have chosen a “helping” profession like social worker, teacher, or nurse or doctor.

But you weren’t necessarily people focused to begin with.

Instead, you started out in engineering, business operations, marketing, carpentry, accounting, forestry, horticulture, engine repair, the culinary arts . . . . something focused on an interest, talent, or skill that was easy for or of interest to you.  While it’s true that people use the products and services provided by these occupations, these jobs aren’t really known as “people-oriented”, are they?

Now, you find yourself in a position to manage people, not because you necessarily enjoy dealing with the challenge of getting the best out of those you now supervise, but because of any number of other reasons, like power, status, money, prestige, recognition, or because there isn’t any other way for your career to progress as it is “supposed” to.

You are badly in need of some guidance, my friend.  So, take a deep breath and read on for navigation tips:

First, learn to check your ego at the door.  When supervising others, you must consciously shift your focus from yourself to those you supervise.  Up to this point, your career has been focused on you – what YOU think, what YOU can do, who YOU know.  That ends right now.  Your thoughts, your needs, your concerns, your technical ability . . . they are not your number one concern anymore.  Instead, your world now centers on the thoughts, needs, concerns and technical ability of your employees.  Your management brilliance will be measured by how well you elicit the best work from these people, who may be nothing like you, and to do that you have to focus on what makes THEM tick.

Second, learn to listen . . . a lot.  Before, you simply had to understand the task, and then carry it out to the best of your ability.  Now, you must engage your employees in what needs to be done to improve in the department or the company.  They will have much to say whether they tell you out right or not.  When in doubt, close your mouth and listen (without that ego that you just checked at the door).  Your employees will come to you with complaints about the company, you, and each other . . . and with excuses for why the work is not done or not done well, and your initial reaction will be to shield yourself from blame.

You’ve been a master at doing the work.  You’ll want to justify everything you’ve done and to correct their facts and interpretations.  Don’t.  Listen for the emotion behind their words, and validate what they are experiencing.  Then, redirect them by asking questions about what they have experienced.  Eventually, you’ll get to the real reason they came to talk to you, and through that conversation you will prove to be someone whom they can trust because you kept the focus on them and listened.

And third, the last big tip is to learn to manage your negative emotions.  You’re human, so there will be times where you lose your cool.  But as much as possible, stay as cool, calm and collected as you can.

The biological reason for doing so is that when your emotions kick in, you don’t think as clearly as you normally would because the body is taking energy from the logical prefrontal cortex and sending it to the emotional limbic system, which is the seat of emotion response.  The professional reason for staying collected is that blowing up in anger or being overly excitable signals your employees that you are not the controlled leader they are looking to for guidance.  Your employees need you to be a stabilizing presence, which in turn, increases your trustworthiness.

When you’re angered or irritated, take a deep breath while counting to 10 before responding to give your emotions time to pass, so your logical brain can have time to kick in again.  Then realize, whatever happened is not the end of the world.  Your response can then be focused on how to move forward to get things back on track.

Supervising a group of people who produce fantastic results is truly a rewarding experience.  And the road to getting there will teach you more about yourself than almost any other life experience.  Enjoy.

Put the Oxygen Mask on Yourself First

You’ve heard of the “freshman 15” referring to the 15 pounds college freshmen tend to gain during their first year away from home?  Well, it seems there’s a related phenomenon called the “Startup 15”.  This is where new business owners tend to gain weight as they begin their businesses because, with their unrelenting focus on their businesses and the stress that goes with it, their exercise and eating habits become less consistent and generally less healthy.  In short, they don’t take time for themselves.

If you’re a small business owner or new to a leadership position, your focus on work leads you to neglect aspects of self-care like eating right, exercising, and de-stressing in general.

You are not invincible.  If you don’t take care of yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally, your business will suffer.  If you’ve just started your business and don’t have others around who can run the business for you, things won’t get done if become ill and unable to function.  As flight attendants remind us on airplanes, “Put the oxygen mask on yourself first.”

Yes, you can run on adrenaline for awhile, but at some point the stress will catch up to you.  Building little bits of self-care into your daily or weekly routine is important and do-able.

Here are 5 small things you can do to avoid the Startup 15 and other stress-related health issues:

1.            Set an alarm on your phone for meals and snacks.  How many times have you “forgotten” to eat?  It happens, but it’s not good for your blood sugar.  Setting an alarm 5 times a day will help you eat small amounts more frequently throughout the day, keeping your blood sugar more even.

2.            Aim for 50% fruits and vegetables at each meal or snack.   I hear kale chips are tasty.  It might be worth a try to get more greens into your diet.

3.            Breathe!  Intentionally breathing deeply has many benefits, including releasing tension, detoxifying the body, and elevating your mood.  To breathe in a beneficial way:

                a.            Inhale through your nose, bringing your breath into your belly and up to the chest, taking 5 counts on the inhale;

                b.            Hold your breath for 5 counts;
                c.             Then, exhale for 5 counts, pushing all the air out.

Do this 5-5-5 breathing 5 times in a row, and do this 5 times during the day.  It’s amazing how it can calm you down or refocus you, especially if you do it when you find yourself feeling tense.  This type of breathing also helps balance your heartbeat.

4.            Touch your lips with one or two fingers to calm down.  Sounds silly but it works. Nerve fibers connected to your parasympathetic nervous system are located in your lips.  In doing so, you calm yourself and de-stress.

5.            Schedule an exercise appointment with yourself.  You probably schedule time to meet with others, so schedule time with yourself.  Whether it’s a walk around your neighborhood or time at the gym, schedule it.  You’ll be more likely to follow through with it when you commit it to your calendar.

New Manager Wanted: Co-Dependents Need Not Apply

For many the idea of success in life includes climbing a corporate ladder to a management job.  Some employees believe if they work at a company long enough, they are entitled to move into management, as though getting a management position just takes time.  Unfortunately, not all of those who aspire to management are cut out for it.  Especially, those who have difficulty maintaining good boundaries and the need to be liked.

 In short, codependents need not apply.

Codependency is the tendency to put others’ needs ahead of one’s own with the underlying belief that the receiver is beholden.  You better believe that unseen strings are attached as the codependent giver considers their giving a sacrifice. They often protect others from the natural consequences of their own actions, like the manager who uses company funds to make the car payments for her administrative assistant, didn’t budget accurately.  Codependent managers do things for employees that the employees are able to do themselves, which prevents or interferes with the employee attaining new skills.  An example of this would be a manager jumping into to perform a task instead of spending time to train the employee to do it because it’s easier and faster for the manager to do it himself.  And in each instance of codependent behavior, the manager resents the fact that they are doing it whether they admit it or not.

Other signs of codependent managers might be:

·         Not enforcing work rules, so employees will like them .

·         Delaying or avoiding completely addressing employee issues because they walk on egg shells around employees who get angry easily when issues are addressed.

·         Jumping in to fix employee mistakes or problems when the employee could do it themselves.

·         Having a tendency to hire people who seem to need rescuing or are down on their luck.

In contrast, being an effective and empowering manager requires many skills and abilities, including:

·         Building respectful relationships with employees without the desire to be liked.

·         Meeting obstacles or conflict head on without being overbearing.

·         Handling resistance when managing organizational change without giving in to the  discomfort of learning new ways of operating.

·         Respecting rules, policies, procedures, and parameters, without unquestioning compliance.

The more effective and empowering manager understands the her duty is to the organization and its interests.  This helps her understand that effective management is not culling favor with employees to further her personal psychological needs.

Instead, good management is about promoting acquisition of new competencies for employees that allow them to work through the awkwardness of getting better at something over time for the good of the organization, without feeling the need to rescue employees from making every mistake.  In turn, this approach increases the employee’s sense of competence and control over their work.

Finally, the empowering manager encourages new coping abilities in employees to replace maladaptive behavior.  The empowering manager says “no” when it’s in the best interest of the organization, allows employees to feel angry or sad when needed, tolerates healthy conflict, and asks for what she herself needs in the workplace.

How are your boundaries at work?

Employee Recognition for the "No Nonsense" Boss

You know who you are.  You grew up in a family where no news was good news.  When your parents had a conversation with you, it meant you had screwed up.  You’re focused on work, not that you don’t like people. You do.   You just like them better when they are working.  While you make pleasant conversation with others from time to time, it drives you nuts or at least makes you a bit antsy, and you feel it’s a waste of your time if the chit chat goes beyond 5 minutes.

Now, you’re in charge of others.  Maybe you have your own company, you’re a CEO of a large company, or you’re in charge of a department or a small work crew.  Doesn’t matter.  You’re now faced with getting the most out of others, and the concept of employee recognition or appreciation comes up.  The idea alone makes you crazy.  Employee appreciation.  After all, employees are getting paid to do their jobs.  You think, “Why should you have to gush all over them?  Geez.  Grow up, employees.  This is the adult world.  Not everyone gets a trophy for showing up to work.”

Granted, it would be a lot easier if everyone could simply show up, hit their marks, and know in their heart of hearts that they did a good job . . . unless you say something to them.  But that’s not the way the world works.  Employees’ need to belong and to feel good about themselves and that means they need you to recognize their efforts from time to time.

Yes, some recognition programs miss the mark.  They put too much emphasis on the token given to the employee (a watch, a trophy, a bonus, etc.) than on the meaning and sentiment behind the token.  (How many of you have commemorative service pins that you don’t want and don’t know what to do with?)  If a program stresses form (getting something) over function (appreciation), then the recognition program is the problem and needs to be revamped or dismantled altogether.

Here’s what we know about employee appreciation:

1.            Performance is higher in groups where the leader shows more encouragement.  In fact, a survey showed that 95% of those survey agreed with the statement, “I get a lot of satisfaction knowing I've done a good job.”  Kepner-Tregoe (1995)

This indicates that to get the best performance out of employees, employees want and need to hear that you recognize their efforts and to know that you were pleased with their work.  It doesn’t mean you have to throw a party or buy them expensive presents each time they do something right.  It simply means you need to acknowledge the efforts.  How about a simple thank you?

2.            Teams with managers who were encouraging and offered praise performed 31% better than teams that did not.  Greenberg, M. H., & Arakawa, D. (2006).

Again, recognizing efforts and telling employees that they are doing well and that you appreciate their efforts is all that is needed.  The research doesn’t say you need to spend a ton of money making a big deal out of every success or breakthrough.

3.            Deliberate and specific recognition/praise is more motivating than money. Deci, E. L. (1996)

When you show your appreciation, be deliberate in recognizing employees and be specific about what it was they did so well and why it mattered to the company.  Don't say only, “Thank you.”  Instead say, “Thanks for the long hours and hard work you put into the ABC project.  Because of your efforts, we landed the account.”

So, as much as it irks you to recognize when employees get it right, it can pay off big for them individually.  Consequently, sincerely saying a specific “thank you” will pay off big for your company, department, or work crew.  It’s not the fancy recognition program you design or the stuff you give people; it’s the recognition and appreciation, stupid.