Finding Recognition Everywhere

Effective recognition relies heavily on intrinsic motivation. Each employee has individual needs and expectations that motivate their actions.

Most people are intrinsically motivated by varying degrees of achievement, affiliation, or power/control. Supervisors present workplace goals based on these motivators.

Additionally, they must use extrinsic motivation properly by incorporating meaningful recognition into bonuses, incentives, contests, and prizes. Employees can also receive recognition that works by providing quality products and services to customers.

A workplace that allows people to contribute in a meaningful way will give their job purpose. Managers should find ways to help their employees take pride in their work and boost their team or organization's reputation in the community.

Creating an atmosphere of trustworthiness is a powerful form of intrinsic recognition. For example, Best Buy uses a system called ROWE ("results-only work environment"), in which employees chose how, when, and where their work is performed.

Supervisors only measure if the work is accomplished. This system demonstrates trust in employees and has reduced voluntary turnover and increased productivity 42 percent.

An organization can also show employees they are recognized by providing opportunities for growth. In-house vocational counselors are essential to helping employees find new areas of challenge and advancement.

People often leave a job to pursue growth opportunities in their career. By proactively encouraging and creating career furtherance from within, organizations retain valuable employees and foster company loyalty.

Fair pay, benefits, health insurance, vacation time, and a quality working environment also affect whether an employee feels recognized. People do not necessarily receive recognition from a fair salary and healthy work environment, but their absence will be perceived as a lack of recognition.

This article is based on the book 'Make Their Day!' The book summary is available online at Business Book Summaries.

Anyone Can Have a Great Career

Having a great career entails making unique and useful contributions to an organization, in addition to instilling strong feelings of loyalty and trust within others. The unique and useful contributions make up the "what" of an individual's career.

The contributions themselves come from an individual's specific mix of passions and talents. The loyal and trusting relationships make up the "how" of an individual's career.

These flourishing relationships are the result of an individual's character and conscience. Because anyone can make unique contributions and maintain trusting and loyal relationships, anyone can have a great career.

Individuals need to practice and improve their skills to be able to contribute effectually to the organization, and they need to have a character that is worthy of the loyalty and trust of others. Career-seekers also need to maintain the right kind of ambition.

If someone is ambitious solely for financial success and is not willing to work hard for it, their ambition will likely destroy their career and make them miserable. However, if they are ambitious to make a positive and helpful contribution to their organization and the public as a whole, they will be much more likely to experience success and fulfillment both in their personal lives and in their career.

By committing to doing what is right, individuals will become driven to contribute more, feel better about themselves, earn more money, and have a wider range and greater number of positive opportunities. The landscape of the global economy is experiencing a shift from the Industrial Age to the Knowledge Age.

The Industrial Age used machines to increase productivity and required workers to fulfill specific roles and complete very specific tasks. In the Knowledge Age, however, people are expected to choose the problems they work on.

They need to make unique and effective contributions by using their own skills and talents to solve the issues at hand. And because of the dependence on skill and knowledge rather than machinery, there is no limit to the number of contributions an individual can make so long as they continue enriching themselves.

While it is true that the current state of the economy is resulting in a decrease in job security, it is also true that organizations still face a wide variety of problems, and by making oneself useful by posing solutions to those problems, they can ensure the security of the position they already have or obtain an entirely new position. Many employees feel as though they are just going around in circles, getting nowhere with their career.

They feel imprisoned by their job description, they limit themselves and their abilities to so that they can fit within the constraints they've imposed upon themselves. These employees need to realize that their jobs are no longer defined by their job descriptions, and that if they truly are dissatisfied with their line of work, it is never too late to reassess themselves and their career and begin the search for a position that melds better with what they have to contribute and what they would like to achieve.

In the Knowledge Age, individuals can challenge old assumptions and bring new insight to the table, they can stop pigeon-holing themselves into unsatisfying jobs, and they can address problems with a ride range of easily available informational resources. Individuals need to ask themselves what their actual contribution will be, not what their job description says.

Those stuck in the Industrial Age believe that they are their function, that they are a job seeker, or that they are simply a gear in the organization's machine, while those moving into the Knowledge Age know that they should make significant contributions, that they are a problem solver, and that they are a human being with a unique and useful set of strengths.

This articles is based on the book "Great Work, Great Career." The book summary is available online at Business Book Summaries.