Recognition

The June Jubilee brought lovely news: I was honoured to be awarded a CBE in the birthday honours list, for services to the public and voluntary sector (the latter particularly special as it recognises the work friends and family have done in memory of my younger sister, through The Laura Case Trust). I am ambivalent about the honours system, but there is no denying how meaningful I found the recognition of my public sector career, and the work of the Trust. It has made me think about what it means to give recognition at work, and also about our own relationship with recognition. 

To be recognised is to be seen. Studies have shown that this is necessary to feel like we matter, and that it in turn promotes mental and emotional wellbeing. Social psychologists Morris Rosenburg and Claire McCullough wrote (1981) that feeling noticed is “the most elementary form of mattering”. Yet research, time and again, shows that high percentages of people feel unrecognised at work. At a human level, this is depressing. But it is also poor leadership: feeling invisible is a key demotivator; inadequate engagement with genuine recognition damages retention and productivity. 

The ability to see and show appreciation for the worth in others is a key leadership skill. It doesn’t need to be a senior to junior/ hierarchical offering - some of the most meaningful recognition I’ve seen has come from peer to peer, because there was authenticity in that recognition. Authenticity is essential for the recognition to be valuable: recognition by rote is at best patronising, at worst counterproductive. 

Often recognition is associated with financial rewards, which are by their nature, finite. While rewards certainly have their place, seeing recognition only through this prism risks it coming from a place of scarcity - limited by the rewards on offer - rather than the abundance of individuals' unique and diverse contributions. We all know how far a simple thank you goes, when it comes from the heart. In our VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world,  a small fillip of recognition can make someone’s day. 

Recognition, used without awareness, can also create division in the workplace: the same people, and groups, repeatedly being singled out for praise entrenches privilege and undermines diversity (back to some of my honours qualms). Critical reflection about our own unconscious biases is essential to ensuring we use recognition as a way of amplifying inclusivity, rather than celebrating the cookie cutter. 

Questions for reflection: 

What act of recognition might you make today?

What blinds spots might you have in how you recognise and who you recognise? What might you do differently? 

How can you bring the act of recognition more firmly into your consciousness, and make it most meaningful for those being recognised? 

Our own relationship to recognition is often shaped by experiences of childhood and schooling. Examining this relationship can give us important information about how much we are motivated extrinsically - by others valuing our work - or intrinsically - by our own sense of satisfaction and pleasure. Much of our life is conditioned by extrinsic motivation - think behaviour star charts in childhood, grades at school or yearly appraisals. This can be helpful to a certain extent, but too much reliance on others’ recognition weakens our self-worth and self reliance. If you are always waiting for others’ to feed back on your performance, when do you strengthen the muscle to judge it objectively for yourself? Many of us would benefit from some tweaking of the dial away from a need for external validation, and towards an appreciation of our own sense of value.

Questions for reflection

When did you last recognise and celebrate your own performance, before it was noticed by others?

What more could you do to engage with your own sense of recognition and value, rather than waiting to receive it from others? 

What freedom or confidence might that give you? 

Photo: Oskars Sylwan