Rideau = Educational Excellence

In 2009, Recognition Professionals International (RPI) developed a new recognition program to honor achievements and excellence in education. At each annual conference, an individual or corporation is recognized for their outstanding achievement in education.

I’m pleased to announce that Rideau received the Excellence in Education Award this year!

The citation read out at the conference stated, “Rideau received the award in recognition for the overwhelming ongoing commitment to education in the field of recognition and for their outstanding support of Recognition Professionals International.”

I’m so proud of Rideau’s educational efforts in the field of recognition. Almost 40 of my teammates are RPI Certified Recognition Professionals (CRP)! This is more than any other company in the world. It represents almost 16% of Rideau’s entire staff and almost 25% of all CRP graduates!

Rideau’s latest graduate is Jayanth Narayanan CRP who hails from Bangalore, India. Jayanth literally travelled half way around the world to become certified!

Two of my colleagues, Roy Saunderson CRP and Max Brown CRP from the Recognition Management Institute just finished taking an intensive two day course titled “Proving the Value of Recognition - Measuring the Application, Impact and Return on Investment for Recognition Programs/Projects.” This course was given by Dr. Jack Phillips of the ROI Institute.

We were also very fortunate to have Arne Carlson present when I received the award on behalf of my Rideau colleagues. Arne Carlson joined Rideau’s board in 2004 and serves as Vice Chairman. Arne was a two term Governor of Minnesota. I once asked Arne what his proudest accomplishment was as Minnesota’s Governor. He told me it was in the field of education where he created the nation's first K-12 school choice program and received awards for educational reform. Arne has supported all of Rideau’s educational efforts and it was a pleasure to have him and his lovely wife Susan on the podium with all my other colleagues when we received the award.

I truly believe Rideau’s educational efforts set us apart from other providers and it shows in the quality of our solutions, products and services we provide to our clients and the millions of recipients we honor.

13th annual RPI Conference

It may seem a little far now, however, Recognition Professional International’s 13th annual conference will be here before you know it!

It’ll be held on April 25th through 28th at the Green Valley Ranch in Henderson, NV. Also, CRP classes will be offered on April 24th, 25th and 28th.

The RPI conference is such an excellent place to exchange and learn recognition information between providers and buyers. Further, the CRP classes are one of the great ways to give your managers the tools they need to give effective recognition that accomplishes all your company’s goals.

Click here for more information.

Green Valley Ranch, Henderson, NV

How Recognition Impacts Good Work

My good friend and fellow Recognition Professionals International Board member, Dee Hansford recently appeared on Brian Moffitt’s "Good Work NOW!" show. Brian’s show is dedicated to finding and creating good work.

Workplace recognition plays an important part in encouraging and recognizing good work.

Watch a short clip of Dee and Brian. Or watch Dee's entire 30 minute interview.

Dee does a great job of explaining why recognition is so important today.

Happy viewing!

Roy Saunderson’s Recognition Journey is My Good Fortune!

Earlier this summer, Roy Saunderson gave a keynote at Recognition Professionals International’s annual conference in Naples.

You might find this odd, but I have never heard Roy speak before. Yes, I’m supposed to be running the show. And yes, logic has it I should have heard Roy speak before buying his company three years ago and having him work with me!

But I didn’t… I just knew it was the right thing to do.

Roy’s keynote was powerful. He spoke for over an hour. He had no notes. No PowerPoint. There were no props other than a small little teddy bear (I’m not going to explain why here). There was none of the usual pauses, searching for words, or the other things speakers usually do when searching for words.

It was just a simple, powerful story about Roy’s own personal recognition journey. It was a story that reduced many in the audience to tears.

I was proud to be part of Roy’s recognition journey.

Roy’s story is my good fortune. I’m so lucky to know this humble man!

His message is powerful.

His cause is Noble.

A GREAT Deal From RPI

I sit on Recognition Professionals International’s Board of Directors and I’m going to engage you readers in a little shameless conference promotion!

We have some great things going on at this year’s RPI conference in Naples Florida on May 3rd to the 6th. The conference will be a great opportunity to collect tools and techniques that you can readily apply at work in this down economy. I urge you to register and take advantage of the following great savings:

• Register for the conference now and pay the member rate of only $575
• Enjoy the reduced room rate of just $179 per night ($20 Hotel Resort fee also waived)
• Get one free room night at the Naples Grande (excluding taxes) when you sign up for at least one CRP course on site and register for the conference
• Purchase an Exhibit Booth at the conference and get on free room night at the Naples Grande (excluding taxes)!

Further, RPI is offering online courses for CRP certification. You can now take the CRP I online at the one-time member rate of only $450 (until April 15) then finish up at the ’09 Sharing Conference. For more information on the conference please CLICK HERE.

A Plea for Recognition in the Workplace

A couple of weeks ago my wife Francine and I visited our favorite city in the world… Paris, the city of lights! We had a great trip walking several hours every day exploring museums and other off the beat haunts.

I also got the opportunity of meeting my good Parisian friend, Christophe Laval. He is a fellow Recognition Professionals International CRP grad. (The only difference being he took the courses in English, his second language, for which RPI should give him bonus points!)

For the last several years Christophe has been the president and CEO of Entreprise & Personnel (the French equivalent of SHRM) and prior to that he was the VP HR for the Compass Group in Europe with about 100,000 employees.

Employee recognition has become a passion of Christophe’s and he believes it is not being used to its full potential in France and other European countries. For that reason, Christophe intends on leaving Entreprise & Personnel at year end and becoming a full time employee recognition consultant. The name of his new company is VPHR (Vision Performance Human Capital Recognition) and you can visit him at his Recognition at Work website.

Christophe just wrote a book in French on employee recognition called “Plaidoyer pour la reconnaissance au travail,” literally translated… “A Plea For Recognition in the Workplace.” You can purchase the book at Livrebusiness.com. It is a very good read and I strongly recommend it.

Christophe launched his book in Paris at the Georges V Hotel on November 7th and the launch was attended by about 75 senior level HR professionals. Afterwards, I participated on a panel with Christophe and we answered questions about Recognition Professionals International, the use of recognition and its international differences.

I believe that Christophe Laval will be a great asset to the international recognition community.

A Little Help From Your Friends

Couldn't we all use a little help from our friends?

The recognition and incentive industry has some super associations that you can use for research and unbiased third validation.

Over the next few weeks I'm going to spotlight several.

The first organization that comes to mind is Recognition Professionals International .

This international organization is dedicated to embedding recognition as a business strategy in companies large and small.

Its membership consists of practitioners and providers split about 75/25%.

It holds an annual sharing summit and has become famous for its Certified Recognition Professional (CRP) courses based on seven best practice recognition standards.

It also holds its annual Best Practice competition. This competition judges recognition programs, large and small, from all over the world against the seven best practice standards.

It also provides a ton of research and everyday common sense ideas. It has a wonderful sense of community... I should know! I, along with many of my Rideau colleagues have been members since 2001. Also in the spirit of full disclosure... I've been on RPl's board since 2004. And no, contrary to what my colleagues at Rideau think... I did earn my CRP certification!!!