RECOGNITION RESEARCH

 

Action: Ensure managers know exactly how each team member likes to be recognized. Ask each team member to take the 5 Languages of Appreciation Quiz and share your results. We usually recognize others the way we ourselves like to be recognized, but your team members may like to be recognized differently than you do. Make your recognition program more effective by starting with understanding. 

 

• Source:  Gino, F., & Flynn, F. J. (2011). Give them what they want: The benefits of explicitness in gift exchange. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47(5), 915-922.

• Main Claim: Gift recipients are more appreciative of gifts they explicitly request than those they do not.

 

 

Action: To increase productivity and motivation, design programs that allow your employees to interact with your customers. In-person contact is most effective. For example, invite one of your customers to speak at your next Town Hall or all hands meeting. Ask them to share both why they love your product or service and how it has personally impacted them. Track productivity spikes pre and post in person chat. 

 

•  Source: Grant, A. M., Campbell, E. M., Chen, G., Cottone, K., Lapedis, D., & Lee, K. (2007). Impact and the art of motivation maintenance: The effects of contact with beneficiaries on persistence behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 103(1), 53-67.

• Main Claim: When callers interacted with the beneficiaries of their work in person, the average caller doubled in calls per hour and minutes on the phone per week and revenue quintupled.

 

 

Action: To enhance job performance, build systems that reinforce awareness of who your employees help. For example, make positive customer feedback highly visible for everyone to see. 

 

• Source: Grant, A. M. (2008). The significance of task significance: Job performance effects, relational mechanisms, and boundary conditions. Journal of applied psychology, 93(1), 108. 

• Main Claim: Employees are often distanced from information about how their efforts make a difference. Exposure to task significance can enhance job performance by fostering a deeper understanding of the social impact and value of one's work.  

 

 

Action: Design programs that allow employees to reflect on how their work benefits others. For example, you can design an infographic, image or map that shows how each department contributes your company's mission! 

 

• Source: Grant, A., & Dutton, J. (2012). Beneficiary or benefactor are people more prosocial when they reflect on receiving or giving?. Psychological science, 23(9), 1033-1039.

• Main Claim: Reflecting on contributions, and giving rather than receiving can lead to greater helpfulness.

 

 

Action: Express gratitude once a week, not daily for the biggest effect. 

 

• Source: Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. M., & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change. Review of general psychology, 9(2), 111.

• Main Claim: With gratitude expression, timing is important.

​​

 

[Supporting research to invest in a gratitude/recognition program] 

 

• Source: Grant, Adam. & Gino, Francesca. (2010). A Little Thanks Goes a Long Way: Explaining Why Gratitude Expressions Motivate Prosocial Behavior. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, Vol 98, No. 6, 946-955.

• Main Claim: Small expressions of gratitude can motivate prosocial behaviors by leading helpers to feel socially valued.

 

 

[Supporting research to invest in a gratitude/recognition program] 

 

• Source: Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting Blessings versus Burdens: an Experimental Investigation of Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being in Daily Life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 377.

• Main Claim: It’s healthy to count your blessings and to express and feel gratitude- the act of counting one’s blessings can increase positive emotions, subjective well-being, and health.