who are your real stars?

Recognizing More Than Just Stars

Think recognition should be reserved for top-notch workers who go “above and beyond the call of duty”? If so, there’s a good chance you’re missing opportunities to positively interact with the mainstream employees who are the backbone your organization’s success (not to mention your success as a leader). These are the people who, day-in-day-out, meet expectations without doing the outstanding things that attract attention. As a result, they are often overlooked and taken for granted.

Sure, it’s easy to ignore these folks. After all, they’re just doing their jobs … just doing what they’re paid to do. But think about what would happen if they didn’t. Would you be able to get the results you wantand need? Would the superior members of your team be able to do outstanding things without the support of the “backbone”? Probably not! Therefore, it’s critical to appreciate and recognize those who maintain good, solid performance over time. Pay attention to these people. Support them. Coach them. Be accessible when they need you. THANK THEM!

It’s often the small things you do that make a big difference in building people up to become even better performers. And that goes double for team members who have performance problems. Sometimes, leaders assume that employees with performance deficiencies in one area should not be recognized when they do other things right. That’s a big mistake! Even people with problems are doing some things right. And each time they do provides you an opportunity to build their confidence and reinforce what they’ve done well. You see, bad work does NOT cancel out good work. They are separate actions that should be dealt with separately – and appropriately. Do that and you’ll prove that you care about total performance … about helping everyone become the best they can