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Recognizing Team Needs
By Gary Ellis, Mindtools Content Editor and Writer
To be a successful manager, you have to be aware of and deploy various social skills. One such skill is recognition, which means acknowledging lows and celebrating highs.
But recognition goes beyond being aware of performance. In fact, it starts with being aware of what your team needs, including fair treatment and meeting specific requirements. Ultimately, good managers prioritize the wellbeing of their team members.
What’s more, managers help to build a strong and healthy company culture by being aware of their team’s needs, celebrating and rewarding effort, and making sure that individuals know their importance.
There are evident benefits from recognition. Recognizing and meeting needs is a key way of making your team members feel respected and valued, which in turn boosts performance and happiness at work. As our Building Better Managers report shows, inspiring such sentiments is key in retaining staff.
But it’s not just about retention. Recognition from a manager correlates with emotional wellbeing, as well as greater commitment and motivation amongst employees. Recognition stimulates people to volunteer for additional tasks and boosts overall performance.
How Do You Improve Your Recognition Skills?
To understand team members’ needs, you have to both listen and pay attention to body language. Be aware of what your team members are saying or doing – and what they’re not. What can you read from their actions or behaviors? Having good perceptive skills is a core factor in building good recognition.
Good managers demonstrate recognition by acknowledging the levels of professionalism members of their team show at work. They also take time to thank individuals for work efforts and congratulate or reward people when they achieve goals and reach specific targets.
Models to Help Your Recognition Skills
There are some different models and theoretical perspectives to consider when you seek to improve your recognition skills as a manager.
Firstly, the PERMA Model, developed by positive psychology pioneer Martin Seligman, assesses five wellbeing elements:
- Positive emotions,
- Engagement (also understood as “flow state”),
- Relationships,
- Meaning,
- Accomplishment or achievement.
Use the PERMA model to help prioritize the wellbeing of your team. For example, the PERMA model will help you to notice what inspires positive feelings among your team members, creates a flow state by adapting individual-specific strategies, and helps to build positive connections. These are a few examples. Read our article on the PERMA model to find out more.
Alongside the PERMA model is Sirota’s Three-Factor Theory, which emphasizes motivation in the workplace. As you might expect, there are three factors that drive this theory:
- Equity and fairness: workers have basic needs that organizations should try to meet. These include fair treatment and physical, economic and psychological needs.
- Achievement: people want to do important, useful work, and be recognized for it. Also, the organization’s goals should not be in conflict with those of the employees.
- Camaraderie: staff enthusiasm is a source of competitive advantage. People want to enjoy good relationships with their co-workers, because they make work more enjoyable, and thus productive.
The Three-Factor Theory is similar to the PERMA model, but more specific in what it suggests to focus on. It proposes that you consider questions like “Are jobs secure, and is payment fair?”, “Does work allow my team to use their talents?”, and “Is there a sense of community in my team?”
Getting the Environment Right
There are also other elements to consider when recognizing your team’s needs, such as environmental and contextual factors.
For example, if the workplace is too warm or too cold, then perhaps consider turning on the air conditioning or heating.
Or, if your team has a deadline looming, then maybe some supportive check-ins or offering to take on some tasks would be beneficial.
What's Next?
When it comes to being good at recognition, a big part relies on the managerial training given to new managers and their level of satisfaction with it. The Mindtools Building Better Managers report shows that managers who were satisfied with their training were 71 percent better at recognition.
So, to make sure your organization sees the importance of recognition and its benefits, be sure to develop your recognition skills in the earliest stages of your managerial journey!
To find out more about recognition and how you can improve, check out our Recognition Skill Bite.
Tip of the Week
Keeping a Reflective Journal
By Simon Bell, Mindtools Content Writer and Editor
Maintaining a reflective journal can help you to organize your thoughts and spark new ideas. It can help you to become a better communicator, to develop self-awareness, to build self-confidence, and to learn quickly from mistakes. All via one simple, daily event. All of this – and more – is possible when you keep a journal.
- Find regular writing times. Set a consistent time that works for you, like early morning or before bed.
- Choose a peaceful space. Write in a quiet, comfortable environment to enhance focus.
- Prioritize the process. Focus on capturing your thoughts, not creating polished entries.
- Write soon after events. Record experiences quickly to preserve details.
- Ask questions. Prompt yourself with questions about feelings, reactions and lessons learned.
- Stay organized. Use an index or tags to find specific entries easily.
- Revisit entries. Reflect on past entries to gain new insights.
- Don’t give up. It’s okay to skip days; you can always restart when you’re ready.
For more detail, see our article Top Tips for Keeping a Reflective Journal.
Pain Points Podcast
On this week's podcast, learn why feedback can be so frightening, and how to make it a much happier experience for all involved. Our guest is organizational psychologist Becky Westwood, author of “Can I Offer You Something?" and an expert in having helpful and human conversations – by taking the fear out of feedback.
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News Roundup
This Week's Global Workplace Insights
Rising Debt and Job Anxiety Shape Career Decisions
Despite strong job growth, with 254,000 jobs added in September, U.S. workers are increasingly concerned about financial instability and job security. A recent Harris Poll reported by Fast Company found that 28 percent of workers fear layoffs before year’s end, with anxiety highest among Gen Z (37 percent) and Millennials (35 percent).
Financial pressures, driven by rising household debt – now at $17.8 trillion – are influencing career choices. According to the Workforce Monitor® survey reported by the American Staffing Association, 40 percent of workers say debt affects their job decisions, with Millennials (54 percent) and Gen Z (50 percent) feeling the most impacted. Many are staying in unsatisfying jobs or delaying retirement due to financial constraints.
Amid escalating credit card and mortgage debt, 56 percent of workers are considering taking a second job to supplement their income, while 40 percent are exploring new careers. The findings highlight the increasing role of debt in shaping the U.S. workforce's career paths and financial wellbeing.
That's SO Annoying... Survey Reveals Top Workplace Irritations
A recent U.K. survey by YouGov on behalf of arbitration service Acas found that the most irritating workplace behavior is colleagues not doing their job properly, with two-thirds of 1000 respondents citing this as their top grievance. Other frustrations include micromanagement and being provided with incorrect information.
These behaviors, though seemingly minor, can negatively impact relationships and productivity, potentially escalating into disputes. Acas warns that unresolved conflicts can increase workplace stress and may lead to bullying or harassment claims.
When workplace relationships break down, it can be challenging for teams to function effectively.
For more on dealing with annoyances at work, see our Expert Interview on Managing Annoying People.
See you next week for more member-exclusive content and insight from the Mind Tools team!
