5 ways to recognize your staff in less than 5 minutes and for less than $5

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Think you don’t have time for some staff appreciation, think again. Recognizing your staff does not need to be done only in grand gestures. Here are a few ideas that will take you 5 minutes or less. However, the impact of your actions will be felt in some significant ways—staff will hopefully feel noticed, appreciated, and motivated.

1. Write a card. I keep a stack of ‘thank you’ cards in my desk drawer and write a little note to my team members when they go above and beyond, or are just plain awesome. Giving thanks in a personal card is good for when you want to acknowledge how impressed you were by someone in a personal and quiet way. 
    
2. Make a special shout out in a meeting. You can add a section to your meeting agenda where you recognize someone on your team who has been excelling. Shout outs are good for when you want to publicize someone’s achievement and use it to motivate the team.
    
3. Send an email to the rest of your team. This one is great when you want to celebrate a person’s accomplishment. For instance, when someone on our team passed her social work licensing exam, I sent an email announcing her achievement and asking everyone to jump in wishing her congratulations. A team email is good for when you want to publicize someone’s achievement and make sure her colleagues know about her development. 
    
4. Send an email to your company’s leadership team. I love letting the leadership team know when someone on my team does something great. This helps the leadership team become familiar with your team’s names and strengths. This one is good for when you want the leadership team to remember how awesome your team is, and how you have leaders emerging from it.
    
5. Buy a coffee. Isn’t it lovely when a friend says, “I’ve got this,” when you’re out for coffee? You can replicate that feeling with your team. If you know that Tracy always gets a latte around 10am, you could pick one up for her a few minutes before 10am and make a special delivery. Or, you could invite her to join you for a quick coffee break during your usual break time, and let her know that whatever she wants is on you. Buying a coffee is good for when you want to acknowledge someone’s good work in a private way. 

You should tailor these actions according to 2 things: the performance or behavior that you’re celebrating, and the preference of the person you’re celebrating. For instance, you might recognize someone who overachieved her monthly targets in a public way—sharing her accomplishment with many people. However, you would probably take a more personal and less public approach to recognizing someone who provided emotional support to a colleague who lost a family member. Further, you should consider what you know about your staff members. For instance, if you have some quieter personalities on your team, you might want to check in before announcing their achievements with others. Some people are mortified by shout outs in meetings, while others thrive when they get recognized publicly. Although gestures of staff recognition are not one-size fits all, tailoring your gestures based on the person and what they’ve achieved does not need to be a very time-consuming or expensive process. 

How do you recognize staff? Share with us in the comments below.