How Staff Recognition Creates Better Guest Experiences - and How to Do It Right.
What is recognition?
Recognition programs are essential for companies who want to show their staff that they are appreciated, celebrate their achievements, and create an engaged and enthusiastic team, and a positive work culture. They also give leaders the opportunity to showcase specific behaviours and actions that drive that culture. This can be done through daily operational briefings that highlight high performers or through weekly or monthly newsletters or operational meetings. The goal is to give specific examples to everyone of what behaviours and actions matter and recognise them when doing so.
What separates organisations where staff feel valued from those where they are not sure they matter? Having a recognition program in place.
Why is it important?
Positive reinforcement results in increased positive behaviours. Research by Oxford University's Saïd Business School found that 92% of staff are more likely to repeat a specific action after receiving recognition for it. Recognising your staff regularly for the work they do also results in increased levels of job satisfaction and job retention. According to a survey by Gallup, employees who feel recognised, are more engaged and productive than those who don't. In fact, employees who feel recognised for the work they do are 1.5 x more likely to feel motivated to do their best, 2.5 x more likely to be happy with their jobs and 20 x more likely ro be engaged than employees who receive poor recognition.
Ways to recognise
If you want to create a world class experience, it's about making sure your staff have purpose in everything they do, and importantly, that they are recognised for their purposeful actions. There are many ways you can recognise your staff:
Offer regular positive feedback in real time.
At MoonShot, we attend events for our clients, providing support, not only training and briefing staff, but also identifying positive behaviours in action and recognising and rewarding those behaviours on the spot.
Create customizable employee awards.
These can be performance specific, role specific or to celebrate a personal achievement.
Give feedback as part of your daily/weekly check-ins.
Use this time to also provide feedback from guests, giving specific examples about how their actions and behaviours made a difference to the guest experience
Create opportunities to be recognised by coworkers.
And celebrate those stories across the whole team.
Creating Positive Moments
In addition to recognising specific actions, creating positive moments is also important. Whether it be a warm welcome before their shift, every shift, or making sure to thank them after their shift for purposeful actions they have displayed during the day. These small actions make a big difference. Encouraging an emotional connection between your staff and your organisation, ensures a dedicated team that are ambassadors for your brand, that really care about your values and about delivering memorable experiences. Look after your team and they will look after your fans and guests.
“You should look at the staff journey and say, how can we make this a better experience? So then when they do get to their posts, they are focused on the fan and feel valued, they have a purpose, and they know what they are there to do. They feel like someone really cares about them, not that they are just a number. That's what you don't want. You want people that have a connection to who you are. You want them to feel like they are valued, that you are taking care of them, that it matters that they show up and that they are positive and have a positive impact. All these things are important.”
- Matt Lynch, Executive Director, MoonShot.
Successful recognition programs take strategy, creativity, and commitment to implement. At MoonShot we can design and deliver recognition programs for your business, driving your staff satisfaction, engagement, and purpose. Our recognition programs are created around your key brand values and expectations to make sure your staff are getting the kind of quality and informed feedback to help them thrive and in turn create incredible experiences for your fans and guests.
