Dear DISC Wizard,
My HR Manager and I can’t get on the same page as to how to recognize our employees.
She is much more “people-oriented” and of the mind that people like public recognition. I am of the mindset that it is more meaningful for people to hear from their manager directly, and in private when they have done a good job. Settle this for us! ~ Rick B.
Dear Rick,
Sure I can settle this – though you may not like it.
You’re both right…and you’re both wrong! How can that be? Because there is no way to put something in place that will satisfy every individual employee’s personality.
Some love public recognition. Others, just hearing their name mentioned out loud, feel embarrassed – even when it was in a positive context.
It reminds me of when I visited a new client in South Dakota. The CEO was delighted to share with me their revenue goal for the year and the reward if they made it… a Caribbean Cruise for their whole staff and their families.
The cruise ship theme was everywhere!
Posters of white sand beaches, a toy cruise ship sitting on their water cooler, regular updates on the activities that were going to be available, etc. You could feel the palpable excitement as we asked about the goal and the staff told us the details.
Correction. Some of the staff. Turns out when I got a chance to sit down with the COO, she was as enthused about the cruise as a trip to the dentist. “Sorry, it’s just not my idea of a vacation to go on a crowded cruise ship with the people I see 50 weeks out of the year. I’d rather head to the mountains with my husband and kids and not see anyone else until we come home.”
Needless to say, the CEO and COO were not on the same page about this goal. Turns out, there were others on the staff that felt the way the COO did. When I brought this to the attention of the CEO, he was initially upset. He thought the cruise was not only a way to celebrate the goal but a way to get the team “galvanized” for the following year.
What I helped him to see was that just like everyone’s idea of an ideal vacation is different, so is everyone’s desire to spend one of their vacations essentially “at work.”
As an Extrovert, the CEO didn’t really distinguish between being “on” and “off.” For him, home and work blended seamlessly.
For the COO, an introvert, she had a very definitive line between work and home and always looked forward to the end of the day, week, year…when she could finally “shut off” and relax.
The ultimate solution included a stipend for those who didn’t want to go on the cruise that was the equivalent of what the company would have spent if they did participate.
Imagine the excitement and enthusiasm this new program created in ALL the staff around the accomplishment of the goal – the whole reason the cruise idea came to be in the first place.
~The DISC Wizard
