Thanks but no thanks

To lighten the mood on a rainy afternoon... what not to do recognition-wise:

A Great Read… 12: The Elements of Great Managing

Recently I read “12: The Elements of Great Managing” on my Kindle. It was written by Rodd Wagner and James Harter who work at the Gallup Organization.

The book is based on Gallup’s Q 12 questions and is based on 10 million employee and manager interviews spanning 114 countries. Each chapter takes you through a particular element and how it impacts engagement.

Two of the elements were of particular interest to me…

Their fourth element which deals with recognition and praise and their tenth element which examines the benefits of having a best friend at work on employee engagement. The former is of obvious interest because of my day to day work. The latter because at Rideau, our workforce consists mainly of friends and family.

I’m pleased to say that after reading the book friends and family can keep on working at Rideau!

You can purchase the book on Amazon… it’s a great read.

And now for something completely different

Take a peak at our Rideau You Tube channel – you can catch a few of our videos including a Jean Béliveau cameo and yours truly covertly imagining the audience in their underwear in order to gracefully deliver an acceptance speech!

CE³O

Watching Barack Obama’s inauguration was quite something. We had our tech guys set up live internet feeds and TVs in our different facilities so that employees could watch this historic event. I watched President Obama’s speech in one of our cafeterias with about fifty colleagues. It was a very moving and historic event.

At the time, as I listened to the new CEO’s Inaugural speech, I was a bit disappointed… it was good, but it wasn’t GREAT.

This weekend, I took the time to read the speech and I changed my mind… it was GREAT! Perfect in tone and content for our times.

Read some of President Obama’s words…

~ On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

~ Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

~ What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility – a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

It also made me realize that President Obama is not only the Chief Executive Officer he is also the Chief Emotional Officer and Chief Engagement Officer. I believe the President has read and sensed the mood of America. He is engaging all Americans with his call to action. His words, speak for themselves…

~ This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

So how does this apply to those in the recognition profession? I have often said that employee engagement is impossible without “employer engagement.” Part of employer engagement is understanding what employees are feeling and reaching out to them with words and actions that lead all to a better place.

And while it’s great to have a CEO who gets it… managers can do this too! Anyone in a leadership position needs to understand their employees’ emotions and engage them.

So here’s to the concept of CE³O… it’s just as essential to a modern corporation as H2O is to humankind!

Barack Sent Me An E-mail!!!

Yes, it’s true!

Barack wrote to me on the night he was elected… just before he went to Grant Park in Chicago and gave his victory speech. It’s an e-mail I’ll keep for the rest of my life!

True, he probably sent the same e-mail to a couple of other million people but it felt like he was writing only to ME!

Great communicators can do that and it doesn’t matter whether they are Democrats or Republicans… Ronald Reagan had the same gift. They didn’t call him the “Great Communicator” for nothing.

Great communicators are not limited to America. Winston Churchill was able to lift a nation with his words... Ghandi led millions with his words and writings.

Another common trait of great communicators is to master the mediums at hand and these are constantly evolving.

In the 1800s politicians could only reach out with their writings and speeches. In the 1930s, Franklin Roosevelt used the new medium of radio to take his case for a New Deal directly into the homes of millions of Americans. In 1960, John F. Kennedy used television to win the White House.

The internet has been around for a while but Barack Obama is the first politician to really master its power. Millions have signed up to follow his Twitters and Facebook page. President Obama has raised the bar... and in the future no politician will ever win a major office without understanding and mastering this new communications medium.

Modern business leaders and recognition managers can learn a lot about communications from the new President.

First, make it personal… so the recipient feels like I did when Barack sent me his e-mail. Make sure you master all the powerful new electronic mediums out there. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc… They will help you deliver your message quickly in a medium that resonates with your audience. The same thing applies to recognition professionals. Use all the tools the internet has to offer in your recognition programs.

I believe business leaders and recognition professionals who can’t communicate effectively or use these new tools are in fact leading their companies into oblivion!

Doing More with Less? Motivate Your Talent with Self-funding Incentives

This week, my friend and colleague Gord Green led a webcast sponsored by the Human Capital Institute about the role of recognition during an economic downturn. During these difficult economic times, retaining talent and increasing engagement and productivity is crucial yet can feel near impossible to attain when morale is being threatened at every corner. Gord sheds some light on these obstacles and arms you with some great tools to surmount them.

If you missed it, you can still view it at any time for free at the Human Capital Institute.

Recognition That Changed My Life

I started painting as a hobby almost twenty years ago. It is one of the great passions in my life.

You can see some of my paintings at Art by Hart. Or take a look at the slideshow in the right side bar.

One of the reasons I like painting so much is it’s something I can do all by myself. Painting has a beginning and an end… something that doesn't always happen at Rideau which is a never ending "work in progress"!

I probably would have given up after my first very feeble attempts if it had not been for three people: my wife Francine Bellomo who encouraged me to paint and set up a studio in our home, the late Dick Kalaidjian who sold me my first art supplies and taught me about the different mediums, and finally Edgardo Vega who has framed all my work for the last twenty years. No matter how bad, he always managed to make my paintings look much better than they really were!

I was very lucky to have Francine, Dick and Edgardo… their recognition and words of encouragement taught me that creativity doesn't reside solely in artists. It can reside in anybody and happen anywhere, anytime! You don't have to be an artist to be creative. You can be a floor cleaner, a dishwasher, an accountant, a teacher or whatever and still be creative. I think a creative person is someone who pushes themselves beyond their own comfort zone to try new things, take risks and to accept the possibility of failure. Someone who looks at new ways of doing things and challenges convention. Someone who tries to make the impossible - POSSIBLE!

I might never be able to quit my day job, but Francine, Dick and Edgardo made me “feel” like an artist and helped change my life for the better.

This story is just an example of how a little encouragement can do a lot for motivation. This lesson applies to the office as well: with a bit of recognition, managers can drive employee engagement and productivity.

Do you have any recognition stories at the office or outside of work where an act of recognition made a difference in your life?