Recognition vs. Appreciation
At Footers we have our “Jimmy Buck” program that pays tribute to my father and founder of Footers Catering. Any of our team members can submit a request for anyone else on our team to get a Jimmy Buck. The only two rules are that it has to be for something specific and it has to pertain to one of our core values. Recipients then receive their Jimmy Buck in front of their peers at lunch or a pre-shift meeting and can then use those Jimmy Bucks to purchase Footers Catering apparel.
Last week, I found myself wanting to give someone a Jimmy Buck, but I was having a hard time coming up with something specific that I saw them do over the past month. I genuinely had a good feeling about this person and wanted to let them know I valued them, but as I combed through my memories and interactions, I couldn’t come up with anything that felt Jimmy Buck worthy. I became frustrated and ultimately gave up, moving on to my task for the day.
I often refer to appreciation and recognition of team members when I talk about building a great place to work. These two terms are similar and many times used interchangeably when discussing what we can do to help employees feel good about the work they are doing. The important thing to note though, is that these concepts are not the same and in order to know how to best utilize them, we have to understand the difference.
Recognition is about highlighting or showing gratitude for someone’s actions or performance. Appreciation is about acknowledging a person’s inherent value or worth as a human being. Both are important and should be implemented regularly, we just have to remember appreciation is about acknowledging who someone is, and recognition is about acknowledging what someone has done. What I missed in the situation I opened with, was that I needed to show appreciation for that team member, not give them recognition.
One of our convictions at MIBE is: “Lead - value people for more than the job they do.” As I reflected on my experience last week and my interactions with friends and family, I realized that that I need to focus more of my time sharing my appreciation for the people in my life. It can be easy to fall into the trap of only providing recognition, and when that becomes our sole focus, we miss opportunities to support our team members. At certain points things will go wrong or mistakes will be made, and if you have an organization that only values recognition, it can leave team members feeling defeated. Showing appreciation helps build resiliency, confidence, engagement, and strengthens relationships.
There are a number of people in my life that need more appreciation from me and if you’re feeling the same, I encourage you to do something about that. Appreciation doesn’t require money, only intention and effort. It can be as simple as taking time to ask a sincere question and actually listening to the answer. Writing a handwritten note or sending a meaningful text. Or simply having a conversation and saying what you value about another person. These may seem like small or insignificant things, but I assure you - they have a big impact on others.