Would it surprise you to learn that the WorkHuman Research Institute found that 21 percent of respondents have NEVER been recognized at work and 33 percent have not been recognized in 6 months? That doesn’t mean the boss is saying, “Wait a minute … uhhhhh … Terry, right?” Come on, even those who don’t thrive on recognition need more attention than that!
Can you ever thank an employee too much? Not if you are specific and sincere. If you end up reading this article thinking, “That Lisa woman said I need to thank five people today, ugh.” Thank you, “thank you”, “thank you”, “thank you”, “thank you”. Check it out! That is done. “You’re right; it doesn’t work. Your employees will pick up on your lack of sincere effort.
On the other hand, keep in mind that what is recognized is repeated, so the more specific you can be, the better it will be. I can say, “Good job, Maria.” or “Maria, you did an outstanding job today handling that call with Ms. Smith. She was tough on her demands, and you calmed her down, professionally handled her and solved her problem, and allowed us to keep her a satisfied customer. Great instinct customer. Thank you! “
You may think of engagement strategies as a soft skill, but they produce difficult results. When studying the communication habits of a team, Marcial Losada discovered that high performance teams have a positivity ratio of 6: 1. That means that for every negative comment heard by a team member; they hear at least six positive responses. In an average performing team, the ratio drops to 3: 1. This ratio means that your commitment barely survives. Your employees are doing enough work so they don’t get fired, and you are probably paying them enough so they don’t quit. They are paddling fast enough that the boat doesn’t sink. It is a uniform balance. In an underperforming team, the ratio is 3: 1. This means that they hear 3 times more negative comments than positive ones. It’s like being in bumper-to-bumper traffic. For every person who says “Come in”, THREE people honk and wave at you!
If you need more numbers, the Gallup organization finds that only 30% of its employees are actively engaged. These are the people who add more value to your organization than the salary you are paying. They are your rock stars and you know who they are. About 50% of your employees are offline. Again, they are doing precisely the amount of work they are paid for, nothing more, sometimes less. And, of course, you have your bottom 20%: actively disconnected employees. These are the poisonous, toxic, and horrible people who work for you … the people who can tame your favorite Yankee candle just by walking around a room. Just as Rockstar employees light up the room when they enter, toxic employees also light up the room when they leave. Not only are they a hassle to have around, but they’re expensive, costing you up to $ 3,500 for every $ 10,000 of salary. Ka-CHING!
Who gets all the attention, rock stars and troubled kids, right? Let’s take a minute and consider the forgotten group: the middle 50%. I like to call this group the Steady Eddies. Eddie may not be a rock star, but he is not a problem kid. It doesn’t have all the notes right, but you can still tell it’s playing “Brown-Eyed Girl”. He comes to work, plays his song, and goes home. What if one day your manager told you, “You know Eddie, I just want to let you know how much I appreciate you being here every day, singing your song to us.” Eddie might be thinking, “Hmmm, how can I get more of that?” So he works a little harder because he likes positive attention. And you’ve opened the door for him to act BETTER … and you may have given him what he needed to be a rock star. (Maybe next week you’ll start playing Stairway to Heaven!) Where do your employees get their actively disconnected employees? The middle 50%. 50% is the group in which you can have the greatest impact, with the right encouragement. This is the group where you can make the most significant difference.
If your employees haven’t heard a positive word from you in the last week, look for something specific that you can recognize. Who knows, you can prevent that person from clicking “send” with your resume to another potential employer.