Monday, July 19, 2010

Why You Need a Recognition Strategy

Having a well defined recognition strategy is the first and arguably the most important element of Recognition Professionals International’s (RPI) Seven Best Practice Standards.

Why?

Simply put, recognition programs which do not align with overall corporate strategies are impossible to defend and inevitably end up being considered an expense instead of an investment. In hard times, these aimless programs are among the first things to be cut.

Any well thought out recognition strategy that ties into your corporation’s business objectives or mission, vision and values is much more readily defensible because senior management can see the link between your strategy and their business objectives.

Corporations will always try and cut expenses, but most will do their utmost to defend investments they believe will help grow the business and deliver profits to shareholders.

RPI's second Best Standard is to have senior management buy-in and support for your recognition strategy. If your recognition strategy is linked to senior management’s business strategies, it makes it much more likely that someone in the C-Suite will act as your recognition champion.

So here are a few tips… take a hard look at your current recognition programs. Do you have a written recognition strategy? Does this strategy align and link up with your senior leadership’s business objectives? Do your leaders understand the strategy and its linkages? Do your leaders actively support your recognition programs?

If the answer is “no” to any of these questions, you should invest some serious time and effort on your recognition strategy, otherwise, you might find yourself considered an expense… and we all know what happens to expenses!

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