How recognizing greatness can strengthen your culture

Those connective tissues that create and sustain culture at work have been put to the test during the last twenty months. Many of the perks that leaders thought made up their culture have proven to be just that — perks. It's the connections between employees that make an authentic culture last and scale.

Today, in a world where employees often feel stressed and burned out, how do you help them understand their value to your organization while building new connections and relationships to evolve your culture?

We sat down with recognition expert, professional speaker, coach, author, recovering healthcare executive, and part-time perfectionist Sarah McVanel to learn about the F.R.O.G. (Forever Recognize Others' Greatness) movement and how unconditional recognition can help deliver for your culture and customers.

You're known for "frogging" — a very interesting way of showing recognition to friends and colleagues. Can you tell us a little more about it? 

Of course! F.R.O.G. stands for "forever recognize others’ greatness." There's nothing like going up to a perfect stranger who's doing fantastic and saying, 'Hey, have you been frogged lately?' You can imagine what kind of reaction I get. Generally, people smile and chuckle, perhaps awkwardly. But that's why it's essential. If you choose to frog people, you need to quickly say, 'I want to Frog you and frog stands for forever recognize others’ greatness. There's greatness in you.' and then you just talk about something you observe.

Why is it important for you to recognize greatness in strangers?

Greatness is something that many of us think only a few people have. We put people on this pedestal, and it robs us of the opportunity to notice that greatness exists everywhere. Those extraordinary moments exist in our ordinary life. The whole concept behind frogging is to intentionally notice small and large strengths and talents in people — whether in our personal lives or professional lives — that deserve acknowledgment.

We love that you call out personal and professional recognition. How does this recognition come into play at work?

When people feel seen, heard, and valued, their mental health is better. They are more likely to stay in that workplace. They feel more connected in those relationships. They feel more confident in themselves. They trust organizations that acknowledge them more.

The recognition that I do through frogging and teaching people how to F.R.O.G. is about basic human kindness and giving people the fundamental human need that every one of us has — which is to feel valued. Now more than ever before, people need to feel valued. They're craving it.

We've noticed over the last two years how employees and companies have realized that culture is about people and not office perks — especially with the move to hybrid and remote work. How has this changed companies when it comes to giving recognition? 

The pandemic has been the great playing field leveler because it stripped away all of the surface-level relationships. It reveals the truth about culture because it has stripped culture down to its most basic level.

All of the stuff that was smoke and mirrors about relationships and connection and traditions went away. It has revealed that it was not a true, authentic acknowledgment of people. Many organizations have found a way to evolve it.

What's a great way of evolving recognition that you've seen?

There's a call centre company I know that had a kudos board in their office. Anyone could write an acknowledgment — whether it was staff to leader, leader to staff, peer to peer — and you'd put it up on the board.

When everyone went home due to the pandemic, its leadership didn't want to lose their kudus recognition habit. They found a way to work with their communication system provider to build a recognition portal. They shifted to virtual, and they didn't lose any momentum. 

Then they thought about how they could level it up. So they started to create videos. People liked it and engaged with it — so they asked themselves why they were keeping it to themselves. 

Now anyone can see these acknowledgments that people have said about each other. I don't know about you, but I would prefer to do business with companies where their people are saying great things about each other instead of just missions and values. 

It's a great example — especially since the recognition can be given in any direction, from manager to employee or peer to peer. 

This is something every single person needs to look at. How do I do this as part of my job? How do we do this as part of our team or division? How do we do this as an organization? How do we set it up to be intentionally curated and kept fresh and be as easy and sincere as possible?

You also talk about unconditional recognition. What is that, and how does it tie into how you help businesses and leaders?

People confuse reward and recognition. If you're my employee, then you do work, and I give you a paycheque. It's transactional. That's a reward. It's not recognition — and those rewards aren't unconditional because they're tied to performance or an outcome.

Unconditional recognition means understanding that your value comes from you and not your outcomes. Maybe you're having a bad week, or you have a sick parent or child, and you don't perform as well. With conditional recognition, you might not get new opportunities, and you start to think, "wait, am I only as good as my last sale, last report, or last client acquisition?"

What if I am always as good as the best that I can give? What if I'm making this team stronger, healthier, and happier because my superpower is creating such a delicious team environment that I make sure every one of my colleagues wants to work here. I'm part of the cultural glue that this sales team hangs together. 

Other than being transactional, what's another problem with rewards vs. recognition?

Rewards are only as good as the length of time that reward lies there because they're not unconditional. They are entirely transactional. 

As long as the transaction continues to happen, you can expect that level of performance and people to stay motivated. When we acknowledge people for doing what they do well, people will be intrinsically motivated. It has meaning to them, and they see the impact on their team and their customers. 

What's one piece of advice you want leaders to know?

Asking people what they need, what they value, and how they want to work is probably the easiest way to recognize people. It's a way of saying, "You are important to me, I see you, I hear you, I value you."

You can learn more about Sarah McVanel on her site greatnessmagnified.com.