In Praise of Praise - How can you build your workplace morale – and inspire the best from your employees?

This is a great article from Susan Adams at Forbes Magazine. Here she focuses the power of employee appreciation and mentions our very own award winning Carrot Culture Gurus, Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick.
For all your employee recognition needs please contact the Baltimore Appreciateologists at baltimore@octanner.com, or call 410-661-5668. We look forward to helping you with your recognition solutions….

Expressing appreciation can be an extremely effective way to motivate employees, yet few bosses do it. The first time a boss thanked me for my work, I felt startled and a little confused. What? Had I heard that right? She's thanking me for doing the job I'm paid to do? Who expresses gratitude in the rude, no-nonsense world of journalism?

I'd spent the first phase of my career reporting to one of the toughest bosses in New York magazines, the brilliant but explosive Steven Brill, who ran The American Lawyer the old fashioned way, with excruciatingly high standards and frequent expletives. Then in the early '90s I found myself working under Robert MacNeil, at PBS' MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. An exceedingly decorous man, MacNeil even thanked the janitors, setting an office tone where managers expressed appreciation at the end of each day. Once I got over my initial surprise, I realized I very much liked it when my senior producer thanked my team and me for giving the program our all.

Although appreciation and praise, especially when expressed specifically, inevitably make employees feel more loyal and more engaged, all too few bosses practice the art of gratitude, says Chester Elton, a motivation consultant. A recent study found that between 75% and 80% of American workers said they got little or no recognition from their managers in the last year. Together with a co-author, Adrian Gostick, Elton has written four books on using recognition and praise to boost results, most recently The Carrot Principle: How the Best Managers Use Recognition to Engage Their People, Retain Talent, and Accelerate Performance.

In that book, Elton and Gostick include the results of a survey they commissioned of 200,000 American workers that demonstrates a link between bosses who recognize employees with praise, along with other signs of appreciation like holiday parties and handwritten notes, and a company's financial performance. The survey shows return on equity three times higher for companies that engage in employee appreciation. Their workers are more creative and more dedicated to the business's success, and they have a stronger bond to their company and its goals, according to the research.

For the last decade Elton has been working at Carrot Culture, the leadership and training division of a Salt Lake City company called O.C. Tanner, which started 84 years ago as a maker of employee recognition lapel pins. Now O.C. Tanner produces all sorts of employee recognition products and services for companies, including awards, trophies and gift passes. As a Carrot Culture speaker, Elton charges $20,000 per appearance.

He insists that appreciation works, especially during these recessionary times when companies have cut monetary bonuses and awards. Though it costs a company nothing, verbal praise can be as effective as a cash award, he says. Hard Rock Café, the restaurant chain, did a study on the effect of managers welcoming their shifts, thanking employees for coming in and making a few inquiries about their personal lives and families. Just a minute a day of verbal appreciation reduced employee turnover by 3%, Elton says.

Source, Susan Adams, http://www.forbes.com/

The Corporate VP of Station Casinos talks Recognition!

Bestselling author and motivational speaker, Chester Elton, recently met with Valerie Murzl, Corporate VP of Station Casinos in Nevada. Valerie talks about her people and the need for more recognition in the workplace. She also provides some great advice. To listen to the podcast of this interview please click on the following link ....http://chesterelton.com/images/uploads/podcasts/10/Chester_Elton-Station_Casinos.mp3

Chester has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Fast Company magazine and the New York Times and has been featured on CNN, ABC “Money Matters,” MSNBC, National Public Radio and 60 Minutes. A sought-after speaker and recognition consultant, Chester is Senior Vice President of the Carrot Culture division with the O.C. Tanner Recognition Company.

Source: Chester Elton Podcast, January 16th, 2010 and http://www.chesterelton.com/.

The Invisible Employee - Second Edition

The Invisible Employee—2nd Edition—by authors Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, is now available!
The critically acclaimed book is an invaluable read providing great business advice and practical guidance for managers. This book shows managers how to get involved and lead their people from obscurity to achievement, reaping the rewards across their entire organization.
For more information visit www.carrotbooks.com or contact your Baltimore Appreciatology team at 410-661-5668.

Reviews.....
"A gem of a book . . . finding that workers who are recognized are more productive, have fewer on-the-job accidents, and translate their satisfaction into customer satisfaction."—Financial Post.

"There is magic in this book. Whether you are looking for a few good tips to keep a good thing going or need to recapture the very essence of a productive workplace, The Invisible Employee provides valuable lessons nestled among the pages of a clever and compelling story."—Stephen C. Lundin, bestselling coauthor of Fish!

"Gostick and Elton's simple-to-understand and teachable approach of setting and supporting core values and recognizing and celebrating those behaviors can be a very effective management technique for creating a committed and engaged workforce of 'visible employees.' This is a culture no organization can afford to be without."—Michael R. Losey, President, World Federation of Personnel Management Associations.

"The basic principles detailed in The Invisible Employee are simple yet profound: (1) setting a guiding vision, (2) seeing employees supporting that vision, and (3) praising and celebrating that behavior. Engaging our entire staff by using these principles helps Friendly's provide great memories for our guests."—John L. Cutter, CEO and President, Friendly's Ice Cream Corporation.

"The Invisible Employee is a very inventive and original book. Combining facts that will surprise you and a fable that will fascinate you, Gostick and Elton have crafted a book that educates and entertains. The Invisible Employee is a wonderful read with a powerful message, and I highly recommend it to leaders at all levels."—Jim Kouzes, coauthor of The Leadership Challenge.