Recognition can be understood as the act of praising someone for their characteristics, values or for a successful task.
But the concept of recognition is not limited to just that. The practice of recognizing people in companies is a people management strategy that stimulates motivation, engagement and promotes a good organizational climate.
So, follow everything you need to know about this subject below!
In this content you will find:
- What is recognition?
- recognition meaning
- Synonyms of recognition
- The role of esteem in professional self-fulfillment
- Recognition at work: how to engage employees?
What is recognition?
Recognition is considered the act or effect of recognizing. The term can be applied to different contexts, for example, it is referred to identification (acknowledge someone), acceptance (acknowledge something as true), confession (acknowledge the mistake) or even thanks (show gratitude).
recognition meaning
The meaning of recognition is “act of recognizing merit”. That is, when you recognize someone you are valuing a characteristic, competence, skill or talent.
In addition to the word being a masculine noun, it is the junction of the verb recognize + mento . Eventually, another interesting fact is that the word recognize has its etymological origin from the Latin recognoscere , which in Portuguese means to take knowledge, to bring to mind again, to certify.
Synonyms of recognition
For you to know more about the topic, follow the main synonyms of recognition related to:
- Admit wrong: admission, confession, declaration.
- Show gratitude: thanks, gratitude, gratification.
- To remember someone: to know, to differentiate, to distinguish, to identify.
- To recognize something as true: to accept, admit, assent, agree, confirm.
- Take something as legitimate: authentication, certification, legalization, legitimate.
The role of esteem in professional self-fulfillment
According to American psychologist Abraham H. Maslow, human beings have five basic needs related to physiology, safety, social relationships, esteem and self-actualization.
In this way, the set of all these categories form Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a theory represented by a pyramid with a base formed by the most basic needs related to human survival.
Thus, as the individual satisfies a need, he advances to the next stage and moves from physiological needs to safety, from safety to social needs, and so on.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
At first, according to Maslow, the starting point of the hierarchy is the physiological needs, a category in which the primordial factors for human existence, such as food, are found.
Next is the desire for security, represented by the stability that is the need to have a job, a home and to be protected from violence or natural disasters.
In such a way, these two bases of the pyramid make up the fundamental basic needs to engage employees, that is, without them, people will not have the motivation to reach the next stage.
When physiological and safety needs are met, people move on to psychological needs for social relationships and esteem.
While the social need represents the desire to relate to other people, such as making friends, participating in groups, relating to family and having romantic relationships, the search for esteem is strictly related to recognition , status , power and respect.
That is, to stay motivated, professionals need to have friends at work and receive recognition for their efforts .
Finally, at the top of the pyramid is the need for self-actualization . When being recognized professionally, employees tend to look for growth opportunities inside or outside the company.
As a result, to engage employees at work, it is essential to promote opportunities, challenges, recognition and constant feedback.
Recognition at work: how to engage employees?
Engagement in companies happens when people are motivated and satisfied with their work. And engaging people is important because engaged employees are 5 times more likely to refer the company, 5 times more committed to delivery and 3 times more likely to innovate.
For this reason, it is essential to engage professionals so that they achieve high performance and become brand ambassadors.
But how to do this? According to a survey carried out by our platform, recognition was the factor that most impacted engagement in companies in the last year.
In other words, efficient recognition practices and continuous feedback are among the factors that most engage employees in organizations.
In addition, it was also identified that, in the view of employees, the recognition practices adopted by the company need to be part of the culture.
So, it’s no use promoting recognition in a punctual way, it needs to be present in the day to day work and be part of the DNA of the business.
Efficient recognition practices
Mereo’s climate survey question “Are the recognition practices adopted by the company efficient?” seeks to identify whether the organization has recognition practices and whether they are efficient.
Therefore, one of the perceptions identified in this question is the feeling that the company is passive in the recognition of employees. As a result of this passivity, the organization and the leader frustrate the employee, who may become dissatisfied and start a search for replacement in the market.
Therefore, it is necessary to constantly recognize professionals who deliver consistently so that they feel stimulated and are not interested in other opportunities. Find out how below:
Continuous performance management
Performance appraisal cycles should happen frequently to ensure that employees do not take a long time to be recognized for their performance. This periodicity also accelerates the learning curve and makes it possible to resolve gaps.
Communication of promotions
Sharing with employees that performance management has an impact on internal movement is crucial for them to be clear about the importance of this process. When this is not done, employees have the perception that the evaluation is just a bureaucracy within the company.
continuous feedback
Feedback must happen among all people in the company on an ongoing basis, regardless of formal evaluation cycles. After all, feedback is not just an interaction between leader and team member, but between peers, from team member to leader and employees from different areas.
meritocratic measures
When there is recognition of the work, the employee feels valued. Therefore, it is necessary to structure meritocratic guidelines and align with the team. It is also interesting to communicate to everyone on the team when a positive recognition happens to serve as a practical example of what has been established.
Tools for recognition
With Mereo’s Praise and Recognition module, organizations promote a culture of continuous recognition among people.
Every month, employees are sent the recognition question: “Who was the person who inspired you the most in the last month?”. In addition to indicating a person, there is an open space to write a compliment.
The nomination is not anonymous and compliments are received via Slack, Microsoft Teams, email or SMS and can be shared on Facebook and Linkedin.
Within the platform, the company can view the ranking of TOP influencers and TOP valuers for the period and follow the evolution of the exchange of recognition and the compliments sent.
From these rankings, the company can create internal actions, such as awards for the biggest influencers.
Recognition by leadership
Employees need that their deliveries and developments are duly recognized by their leadership. Therefore, it is necessary to have a clear and constant feedback process between managers and their subordinates.
In this sense, it is interesting to adopt one-on-one feedback (1:1) , since valuing people and showing how important their development is is essential to establish high performance management.
1:1 is a moment of conversation between leader and team that improves the flow of information, optimizes career direction, improves employee engagement and strengthens the relationship between leadership and employee.
feedback for leadership
In order to encourage people’s engagement, it is also necessary to offer a good organizational climate and a culture that encourages everyone’s development. But all this is useless if the leaders are “toxic” and non-empathetic.
In an environment aligned with growth and appreciation, it is also necessary to implement feedback for leadership. Among the main tools for this is the pulse survey of Leadership Thermometer of Mereo’s methodology.
This research serves to identify what are the characteristics of managers who perform well and what are the gaps they should focus on to become better managers for the team.
Feedback for leadership should never be used to offend leaders or act as a “bag-ass”, it is necessary to observe how they act and make evaluations from that base.
Therefore, this tool should be used to analyze the interaction with those who are led, the incentive given to the development of employees, the commitment, the way of performing the work and the skills needed to inspire other professionals.
Conclusion
In short, recognition is a stimulus to positive actions and deliveries performed by one or more people. Using this technique, it is possible to engage employees and reinforce good behavior through continuous feedback , meritocratic measures and performance evaluations. In addition to reinforcing healthy interactions and a good organizational climate.
