Could we all give more staff recognition?

Wednesday, July 15, 2009 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories: Retail sector | Tags: entrepreneur, Ros Simmons, women in business, VIE at home, sales, Entrepreneur’s Diary

Ros Simmons, CEO, VIE at home : This week our top 50 managers are travelling from all parts of the UK for our monthly sales meeting – so I’m busy preparing for that. With our girls travelling a long way, from as far as Inverness and Cornwall, it’s important that we make these meetings informative, relevant and a lot of fun. But, more importantly, they are really all about motivation.

More than anything, we want them to leave the meetings fired up and ready to impart top tips, company messages and promotions to their teams.

Fortunately, we have at last mastered how to make these meetings really work.

One of the keys to success is staff recognition and at VIE at home we give a lot of credence to this in order to make people feel special. Everyone, whatever job they are doing, loves recognition – as long as it’s given in the right way

The top five most appreciated forms of recognition, according to recent Office Arrow Recognition Research are:

• Verbal recognition (42%)
• Cash bonuses (19%)
• Additional time off (9%)
• Training or seminars (7%)
• Cards/notes (6%)

According to the findings, verbal recognition is most meaningful when it is timely, spontaneous, personal, and genuine.

This could include feeling that your suggestions are valued, being given recognition in meetings with peer groups or senior management, and being asked to take on new responsibilities and special projects. This kind of recognition lets staff members know that their input is valued and their skills and abilities are trusted and respected.

Could we all give more recognition?

On Monday morning I received two cards in the post from consultants. One was thanking me personally for making her job one that she loves so much.

The other said she was taking her family to Hawaii on holiday, having saved up her commission over the past year. She added that she would be flying back the day before our main Christmas launch, and how much she was looking forward to this – how many people do you know who look forward to coming back from holiday!

It certainly made me feel very special and highlighted that recognition can be a two-way process.

VIE at home is built on making people feel special, increasing their self-esteem and self-worth, not excluding anyone, and being consistent with recognition. We have a very clear recognition programme , for everyone who joins our business, so everyone knows what they can expect from us and what we expect from them. It’s a true partnership.

This can be very hard to maintain, but I believe consistency is the key to people believing and trusting in you and the company.

And in recognition of all these efforts, and our new commission plan and training structure, I’m proud to say that we have just won the 2009 DSA (Direct Selling Association) Award for Innovation and Training – that’s us in the picture collecting our award!

Writing this, and knowing the business case for recognition, makes me very aware of how our behaviour affects others. So I will certainly be giving more thanks and recognition when our 50 managers arrive for our monthly VIE at home sales meeting.

You can catch up on Ros Simmons’ previous posts or view all posts from our Entrepreneur’s Diary series, in which we follow a male and a female CEO to discover what life is like behind the scenes of their business.