AUGUST 17

Recognition must be positive.

I’D LIKE YOUR AWARD BACK, PLEASE

There are times when employees need praise and recognition. And, of course, there are occasional times when we need to discipline an employee.

However, the two should not be combined.

One well-meaning manager approached us after we gave a talk at a hospital in Texas. She said she gave her employees a handful of tokens at the beginning of the year, and the employees could earn more tokens if they did good things. In December, they could trade them for awards.

“That’s a good start,” we said.

“And if they make a mistake, I take a token back,” she added.

“Yikes,” we couldn’t help saying out loud.

Cringing, we respectfully suggested she separate her reward and punishment systems. After all, rewards are not something that can be taken back by a mistake.