Recognizing top employees for a job well done is one of the best decisions you will make as a manager. Employees who feel appreciated are happier and are more engaged in their work. Having an established employee recognition program also helps your organization attract top talent. If you want the best for your business, you need to make your team feel valued.
The most creative managers have found unique ways to make their employees feel appreciated. Still, one that has truly stood the test of time is the tradition of giving awards to recognize remarkable achievements.
Giving awards and trophies is a classy and formal way to honor career excellence. However, it should be used with caution. Giving an award is all about communicating a message, and nailing down certain details to get that message across can be quite daunting.
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Consider these helpful tips if you’re planning to give awards and trophies for your next employee recognition event.
Determine How It Fits with Your Current Employee Recognition System
Chances are, you already have an employee recognition system in place. You might already be handing out bonuses or holding company-wide celebrations. Maybe email-based recognition is already a customary practice. If so, how does a new system fit into the overall picture? What value does it add? Does it align with your business scope? It’s a branding decision, much like everything else.
Make It Special
Make sure the award or trophy fits the purpose. The design and material of the award or trophy help convey the right message. It also informs you on the right engraving to include on the award itself. A distinction is important. You don’t want to give out identical awards to everyone you’re acknowledging. You don’t want to give too many awards either, or the gesture loses its meaning.
The purpose will help differentiate one award from another and will help make the recipient feel uniquely acknowledged.
Invest in High-Quality Awards
The quality of your corporate trophies reflects the quality of your brand. So make a statement and invest in high-quality awards built by experienced crafters. Don’t settle for less than professional trophy designers who can work with different material types and customization requests.
If you want to personalize your awards, it’s better to work with experts who can bring your unique brand ideas to life.
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Choose between Display and Gift Awards
What type of recognition would you want for your best employees? If you’d like to give them a professional token of appreciation. They can display it at home for private motivation and as a personal keepsake.
But if you want outstanding contributions immortalized, a display award would make a great “wall of fame” in the office. This type of award will not only give the recipient their well-deserved bragging rights but also inspire others to work for their own.
Make It Custom
A personalized engraving goes a long way in making the recipient feel properly recognized. But remember that being the giver of an award also allows you to exercise your creative freedom and make the award design truly and uniquely yours.
Thanks to the accessibility of materials and crafting methods, customizing an award these days is easy for anyone looking to take design matters into their own hands.
You can choose the type of material to use, select the layout and colors that reflect your company’s branding, and make an almost infinite number of detail adjustments to bring abstract ideas into reality.
Give Awards Genuinely
Receiving an award is a pretty big deal and can feel validating to someone who genuinely worked hard to earn it. But it can feel rather unnerving to someone who doesn’t feel like they deserved it. It may even negatively impact other team members’ feelings about the award. More often than not, your team already knows who’s putting in the work and who is just doing the bare minimum.
Reserve big awards for unique or genuine achievements. And if it’s a competitive award, be sure you’ve factored in team input and performance data to arrive at the rightful awardee.
Make the Award Ceremony a Big Deal
Presenting the award is almost as important as the award itself. It requires a great deal of coordination to make the setting and the vibe match the sincerity and significance of the occasion.
Create a whole new corporate culture around giving corporate awards. You can do it regularly so the team can look forward to it.
Final Word
Giving trophies and awards is still one of the best ways to recognize your best employees. Go the extra mile by following the points above to turn a simple occasion into a remarkable celebration of talent, skill, and corporate standards.
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