Recognition at work: 5 ways to develop it

Recognition at work is one of the key factors of motivation, whether you are a manager, an employee or a director. This recognition can take many different forms depending on the needs of each individual. While one person will need to be recognized for his results and the achievement of his objectives, another will need to be recognized for his efforts. Other individuals will be more sensitive to being recognized for who they are as a person, their qualities and talents. When we talk about signs of recognition at work, we talk a lot about feedback. This is saying to someone, "This is what you do well, this is what you can improve on. Feedback is a way of showing the person that we are interested in their professional development. It's a way of giving them a sign of recognition.

The act of recognition can also be the fact of entrusting a collaborator with a new project to give him/her additional autonomy. It is recognizing the person's right to develop and learn.

Recognition at work also includes celebrating team successes to stimulate collective recognition or celebrating the success of someone on a team to recognize the success of that person on the team.

At Talentis, we have noted five major axes that will be useful to activate individual recognition.

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The 5 key areas for developing recognition at work

1st axis to develop recognition at work: cultivate recognition through learning

Recognition can be stimulated through a person's sense of learning, sense of growth. Some people need to feel recognized by the fact that they are learning, developing, being challenged, etc...

2nd axis to develop recognition at work: highlight the feeling of usefulness of each person

How can we help this person to be recognized as useful? How is their work useful for everyone, for the team, for the company? Whatever the job, there are people who need to feel useful regardless of the hierarchical level. Does this person feel that his contribution is indispensable?

3rd axis to develop recognition at work: value successes

Showing a person's usefulness is important for their need for recognition, but it is even more effective to show their success. How do you value your successes within the team and the company? Of course, it should not be done excessively, but showing that a person is successful from time to time shows recognition and encourages him or her to continue on this path.

4th axis for developing recognition at work: recognizing human qualities

How does this person feel recognized in the quality of his or her relationships, in the trust, in the pleasantness of the relationships? It is very important for any human being to be recognized by his or her peers in order to feel useful and stimulated, and this is especially important in the workplace, where recognition comes mainly from colleagues, managers and clients.

5th axis to develop recognition at work: value collective successes

Some employees are more sensitive to being recognized as individuals and others are more sensitive to the notion of the collective. In the professional field, there are people who are sensitive to the fact that the team is recognized by the other teams, by the boss, etc. And we must not neglect this dimension of recognition either, that is to say: how can we value what the team has achieved this year? What did we improve on? What are we all proud of having achieved? What did we struggle with? But what did we learn from this?

We must therefore not forget to stimulate the need for collective recognition, which is a little less important in our French culture, but which is very important in certain cultures, particularly Anglo-Saxon cultures.

How to develop recognition at work through professional coaching?

At Talentis, as a professional coach, our job is to help people identify their needs in terms of recognition, but also to remain vigilant not to be in a constant thirst for recognition. That is to say, to make the coachee work on his capacity to feed himself and to give himself feedback. We must help the person to identify what is important to him or her in terms of recognition, but also to make him or her aware of what he or she must contribute and the value he or she must bring to the company.

There is also a second dimension, as a professional coach, that of making the team work on this capacity to give signs of recognition. That is, to work on feedback and to ensure that the culture of recognition is one of continuous learning rather than one of flattery. The purpose of recognition is to help people grow, develop and feel appreciated, useful and effective.

In conclusion, all of you should be very careful about what is important to you and what you need. Be careful how your quest for recognition is balanced with your desire to contribute and the reality of the contribution you make to teams. Be careful not to fall into the ego trap, where this unbridled thirst for recognition can sometimes appear immature. And put in place within your team moments of feedback, of expression, of what is important, what has been achieved, while listening to the perceptions of each person, since not everyone has the same needs for recognition.

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