This past week, baseball gave out several awards for achievement during the 2009 season. We had both leagues Cy Young award winners announced, Tim Lincecum of the Giants and Zack Greinke of the Royals. The respective Managers of the Year were also announced, Jim Tracy of the Rockies and Mike Scioscia of the Angels. Next week the leagues Most Valuable Players (MVP) will be announced which should bring award season to a close.
All of these men were deserving, but are were there others that could/should have won? The answer is an obvious yes! Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright could make cases for a National League Cy Young. CC Sabathia and Felix Hernandez could easily have won in the American League. I'm sure their fans howled a bit when Greinke was announced. On a personal level, I felt that Charlie Manuel, the Phillies manager, warranted a better showing than 6th place in the voting. He took his team back to the playoffs (the voting occurs before post season), he juggled his starters and bullpen all season, Jimmy Rollins didn't hit until June, and he lead the team through the death of Harry Kalas in April. Jim Tracy was the obvious winner in taking the Rockies to the playoffs, but Charlie deserved better.
This is the struggle we all face in organizations. How do you choose the best? What are the criteria for employee of the month or special recognition? This is a mine field! Every organization has employee recognition at the top of their list, but few execute it well. My experience is that there are more disgruntled employees as a result of the recognition process.
To do it well, you must identify the requirements, model the appropriate behavior and be firm about expectations. You must stay away from "favorites" and focus on results. Identifying requirements isn't easy in practice. This is the same for promotions. I know what I mean when I say the person must be proactive, do projects that affect the entire organization and have poise and confidence. The problem is, my definition is probably different than the person I'm coaching. I need to use examples and be diligent in pointing out those behaviors that meet the organizational definitions.
Recognition is critically important and must be done. Be deliberate and purposeful in your methodology in order to get the desired results.
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Beautifully stated, Tim. So many times I've seen the rewards of small, quiet acts of individual recognition build and strengthen teams. Much more powerful than any "bang the drum" recognition ceremony which creates or reinforces a communication and productivity divide between those who were on the stage and those who were not.
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