December 28th, 2015
Throughout the year, there are many reasons to celebrate. Many families recognize and celebrate holidays, birthdays, and other accomplishments, such as a baby walking for the first time, or a loved one graduating from college. Because our Colleagues do so many wonderful things all year long, we make it a point to recognize them for their achievements.
At American Training, some noteworthy accomplishments that we celebrated this year, include being named to the Best 25 Places to Work by North of Boston Business magazine and three of our Colleagues being named to the magazine’s 40 under 40 list of young bloods and changemakers.
And we also held our annual Colleague Recognition Awards this fall, another way we recognize Colleagues for their hard work and dedication. We celebrated with awards for milestone years of service with the company, distributed Starfish Awards to those nominated by their peers, and recognized truly outstanding contributions with our WOWzer! Awards, as nominated by our President and CEO, Tom Connors.
But we don’t just recognize our Colleagues with big parties here and there. We also recognize them in small ways for the big and little things, all year long. One of our signature communication tools, the “ThinkPad!”, is another way Tom recognizes our Colleagues throughout the year. These messages are hand delivered and emailed, to make sure they reach all of our Colleagues. We also often recognize them in our digital Newsletter, This Week at ATI, which is emailed to every Colleague each week. And we don’t just recognize Colleagues internally. We also feature them on our blog, which is posted to our website and social media throughout the year.
Recognition is a big motivator, so it should come as no surprise that people like to be recognized all year long. Who doesn’t want their manager to notice their accomplishments? Just a simple thank you will sometimes do the trick, but not always. Getting to know your Colleagues so you know what motivates them can help you identify the best ways and times to recognize their work and contributions. How do they like to be recognized, publicly or privately? What motivates them?
So as the new year begins, make a pledge to notice achievements and people doing great things. It’s the little conversations throughout the entire year that matter, whether it be a quick acknowledgment, phone call or email, or recognition at a weekly staff meeting. It’s an easy way for your Colleagues to feel engaged and feel like the work they do is important. When you meet with Colleagues, and discuss upcoming goals, ask them to begin making notes of all the things they accomplished throughout the year.
There are many books out there that you can search for on ways to recognize employees. Think of a new way or find a new way every week. Print a sign that says WOW! or nice job!, send an email or stop by. Think about the last month, how many times did you recognize someone doing something right? Make note of it and add one new way each week and you will be on the way to motivating your team for success this coming year.
If you have ideas of ways to recognize and celebrate Colleagues for their accomplishments and achievements, please share your ideas below.