A majority of organizations have some form of an award. It may be an annual Employee of the Year achievement or a five year service award. Regardless, the award presentation is as important to the recipient as the award itself. Register for Baudville’s next episode of Recognition TV next week, March 25, to learn award presentation ideas that will make your presentations more personal and impactful!

 

This episode of Recognition TV will:

- Answer what are awards and why do they matter?

- Discuss how to make an award presentation personal

- Share strategies for making a great award presentation

- And talk about choosing a great award

 

If there’s enough time, I have some fun award presentation ideas to share that will bring some levity to the office!

Our webisodes are only 15 minutes long, so they’re very easy to fit into your busy schedule. If you’re unable to participate live, we’ll post a recorded version here and on Baudville.com shortly after the websiode concludes. 

If you have time to do some “homework” for the webisode, watch our Cubicle Chronicles. They’re a great example of what NOT to do!

I hope you’ll be able to join me!

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On the surface, Kurt is Baudville’s mild-mannered Director of Sales, but when it comes to recognition, he quickly turns into the dashing Director of Positive Mojo. Using his powers as a Certified Recognition Professional, Kurt infuses his team with recognition knowledge and experience, while encouraging them to practice daily recognition with his energetic and creative flair. We’re pretty sure there’s a cape hanging from the back of his door.

Each year, Baudville celebrates its accomplishments with a Year End Party.  The theme of the party is always a surprise and isn’t revealed until the day of the party.  This year, the employees arrived at the party to discover that they had taken a walk back in time and were celebrating New Years Eve 1929 aboard the Orient Express.  They also found themselves in the middle of a complex murder mystery drama involving interesting characters and a snake.  As the plot thickened, a delightful dinner was served aboard the train.  Finally, the deception and motive was revealed.  One table of super sleuth Baudvillians successfully solved the mystery and was awarded a prize.

A large portion of the evening is spent recognizing the accomplishments of each department.   Special recognition goes to a few select individuals for submitting great product and process suggestions and perfect attendance.  Two employees who best exemplified Baudville’s core values in 2009 also received one of our most prestigious award the INSPIRE Award.

In this economy, many companies have decided to cut back on parties, and I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to be a part of this wonderful event.  Planning the Year End Party is a true team effort and a great source of collaboration and creativity. Thanks to our cross-departmental SPIRIT Team, the evening ran smoothly and was enjoyed by all!

While year end parties are a popular setting to express employee appreciation, there are many ways to recognize accomplishments that do not require a special event.  We show appreciation year long at Baudville in many different ways utilizing pocket praise, marks of appreciation, award certificates, trophies, peer-to-peer recognition and more.  The management team loves the Recognition Binder, “You’re a Winner in my Book.” 

I love to hear how other companies recognize their employees.  I am always taking notes on how we can continue to improve and let our employees know that we really do appreciate them. Our Year End Party is one of our employees’ favorite events. What are some of your employees’ favorite ways to be recognized?

You can see more pictures from Baudville's Year End Party on Facebook!

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Cindy is the Human Resources Manager at Baudville and has over 14 years HR experience. In addition to her HR Generalist duties, she’s the center of positive mojo for the company and heads up many of our recognition initiatives, events and awards. In other words, she’s got it going on!

 

As Cindy mentioned last week, we had our Year End employee party last week. This event has major cultural significance for our organization, and the 90% participation rate can prove it! It’s an employee-only event that encourages team building and camaraderie among the entire company. Employees look forward to spending the evening together eating, being entertained, winning prizes and receiving recognition from our President and Senior Vice President.

Baudville has some special recognition traditions that happen at the end of the year. We actively promote and practice day-to-day recognition throughout the year, but our experience has also taught us that having formal awards is an important part of a recognition strategy. Employees strive all year to receive such honored recognition.

Our Perfect Attendance Award is a great example. This award happens only once a year (obviously) and rewards an exclusive group of employees. Each employee receives a personal award of $100, and Baudville makes a donation of $125 to the charity of their choice. Employees are presented with an award certificate and letter from our charitable fund, Baudville’s Helping Hand, as their memento. Long after the party ends, you can still spot these certificates displayed around the building (I still have mine up from last year!).

Our annual party also gives every department their time in the spotlight. Each department is called to the front of the room where they are presented with an engraved ornament. While the ornaments are personally distributed, our President shares some of the department’s successes from the year with the entire company. It is always amazing to hear what our company has accomplished!

The recognition part of our event ends with our INSPIRE Award. The INSPIRE Award is our manager-nominated formal award and is only awarded once a year to a select few employees. Our President announces the winners by reading the qualifications and accomplishments of the award recipient. This year, one of the winners took me completely by surprise.

It was me.

Receiving our INSPIRE Award meant a lot personally, and also gave me great insight into formal recognition. I had my Sally Field moment a (“you like me, you really like me!”) receiving the award that reinforced my role on the team. It has also raised the bar for my work. Going forward, I will be asking myself, “Is this INSPIRE-worthy work?” In everything I do, I want my peers know that I value the award given to me and will continue to work and produce results in a way that is consistent with the award.

So after two years of writing about formal recognition and its role in a recognition strategy, I can tell you first hand that giving formal recognition to your employees works. It instills a great sense of personal pride and accomplishment, and at the same time motivates the individual for greater achievements. Implementing a respected and honored formal recognition program does take time, but the cultural and motivational impact makes it well worth it!

This year there were two INSPIRE Award winners. We're pictured here with our President and SVP at our Year End Party.

We’ve all received the traditional award certificate at some point in our life. Maybe you received one in elementary school for completing the Presidential Fitness Challenge. Or perhaps your certificate came in high school when you were given the honor of being Student of the Month. You may even have gotten one during your college years from participating in a fundraising walk one of the Greek organizations put on. 

Regardless of when you last received an award certificate , you probably have the same mental image of what that certificate should look like: gold foil lettering, embossed seal and the signature of a person of authority. Traditional award certificates remain a very popular form of recognition, but if you have Gen Y employees, you may want to make it a little more “hip” this holiday season.

Award certificates are popular because they’re affordable recognition you can give to a large group of people. This is especially important this year as a record low number of organizations are planning on throwing holiday parties. I can assume a similar trend is occurring with employee gifts and awards. Companies everywhere are trying to cut back even though employee morale is at an all time low.

This year, reward your entire team for their hard work and dedicated efforts with some spiced up award certificates. Here are three things you can do to make award certificates cool again:

1. Pick a trendy design. The traditional gold foil lettering certificates are still available, but there are some cool new designs available now, too. Why not give your employees an award certificate that can double as cubicle art?

Tip: Use a contemporary award certificate design to encourage your younger employees to post the award at their desk.

2. Have fun with award titles. Your award certificates don’t have to be formal to be effective. This year, make recognition personal and memorable by giving a special, individual award for each employee, and have fun coming up with award titles. Employees want to have fun at work, and they need some levity. Your humorous award certificates could be just the trick.
Some of our favorite award titles:
Rookie of the Year Award
Why Didn’t I Think of That Award
Samurai Seller
Unsung Hero

3. Make the presentation an event. Even if your organization has cancelled its holiday party this year, make your presentation of award certificates an event for the entire team. Reserve a conference room, bring in festive snacks, and set a festive mood by playing holiday music or – better yet – play “Gonna Fly Now,” the theme song from Rocky. Encourage employees to shake their hands over their heads in victory as they accept their award.

Now you’re a true award certificate champ!!

We recently inaugurated two of our employees into a new leadership training program at Baudville. Both employees have a solid performance history at Baudville and have earned the respect and admiration of their peers. They also already shoulder significant responsibility. Yet they chose to pursue further development opportunities that will inevitably lead to more responsibility., which leads one to ask a perfectly reasonable question:

WHY?

The acceptance into this program requires weekly out-of-work class attendance, sitting in on additional meetings, and doing homework (it’s all very tempting, I know). But the program also acts as recognition of the employees as two of our brightest up-and-coming stars. It’s an honor well worth the extra effort.

This situation is an example of how intrinsic motivation can be a powerful motivator. Professional development is a desired form of recognition, especially among Millennial and Gen X employees, and it serves multiple purposes.

1. Powerful recognition. Like I’ve said, giving an employee a chance to further develop her skills and talents is powerful recognition. The professional development opportunity lets the employee know you recognize and believe in her potential.

2. Valuable training. You’ve identified your top performers, and you’re investing in them. When they come out of their training, they’ll be better equipped to take up the next big thing. You can expect better performances in the near future and a definite return on your investment.

3. Improved loyalty. In exchange for the investment in your employee’s future, you’ll gain their loyalty. Professional development is a great opportunity for mentoring that often leads to a strong bond between the employee and an individual manager or organization. This is important because once you invest in top talent, you want to make sure you keep it.

What professional development opportunities does your organization offer top talent? Invest your time in the up-and-coming talent at your organization to help secure your organization’s future and future leadership.

And don’t forget to make the “big moment” memorable for those recipients. If you’re making a public presentation about the professional development opportunity, present the employee with an award certificate or letter of acknowledgement or both. While the skills and knowledge they’ll gain will be invaluable intangibles for your organization, the symbolic award will be an invaluable motivator for your employee.

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Cori is a Certified Recognition Professional at Baudville and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her daily recognition tips by following Baudville on Twitter at Twitter.com/Baudville.

Being in the recognition and awards industry, I’ve heard many award ceremony horror stories. I’ve been told stories recounting the mispronunciation of the recipient’s name and a presentation of nothing because the trophy was ordered late. But thanks to Mr. Kanye West, we have a new award presentation to add to the list.

Sunday night at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York City, Kanye took to the stage after 19 year-old country singer Taylor Swift was announced the winner of the Best Female Video category. Kanye stole Taylor’s acceptance speech time and took all the joy and excitement out of the award for Taylor Swift by declaring another performer the rightful winner. 

Companies can learn a lesson from the VMA debacle with by learning a few dos and don’ts of award presentations:

Don’t steal all the glory from the winner.

Do let her enjoy her moment. The award recipient worked hard to earn that trophy. For many people, recognition from their employer is the only award they’ll ever receive. Make sure it’s memorable.

Don’t mutter (or loudly proclaim via microphone) that someone else should have won.

Do discuss questions about the award after the award ceremony. Different awards come with different judging criteria. If you have a question about with the process, take it up with whoever is in charge of the award AFTER the event, and preferably at work in a civil manner. Complaining at the event is just rude.

Don’t embarrass the award recipient.

Do put the award recipient in the spotlight. Accepting an award should be a time when the recipient feels most proud about her accomplishments. This is the time to put her on in the spotlight, and you should prepare your remarks by talking to co-workers and supervisors to do it right.

Don’t spring unwanted surprises on the award recipient.

Do make award recipients feel comfortable. Employees may be uncomfortable in the spotlight in front of all their peers, and you should make the situation as comfortable as possible for them. After all, you are recognizing them! I’m confident Taylor won’t shy away from future nationally televised award ceremonies, but your employees may not have the same resolve.

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Cori is a Certified Recognition Professional at Baudville and a member of Team Taylor.