In a recent quality management class, group discussion centered on frustration in the workplace resulting from lack of appropriate employee recognition. Several people recounted how disappointing it was to go “above and beyond” only to find there was little appreciation for what was accomplished. It is not surprising that it seems easy for management to take people/teams for granted. Depending upon what else is happening within the organization, it seems to be common to overlook the efforts of our people/teams.
Most of us, at one time or another, have worked on teams that have done some amazing things resulting in eye-popping results. Even when the results came from levels of effort that seemed to border on the superhuman, managers often respond with indifference or, worse yet, telling the team that level of commitment was expected, and success was anticipated. After all, they might say, we paid for those results.