Real Recognition Examples from Applauz to Inspire Your Recognition-Giving

If your team uses Applauz, or any other recognition program, then you have probably experienced the following obstacles when wanting to give recognition:

• Being unsure if an action is "deserving" of recognition.
• Not knowing what to write when recognizing someone.
• Uncertain of who to give recognition to.

All these questions are normal! I'll start by saying that there is no such thing as giving too much recognition. People, in general, want recognition – whether it's for something big or small. 

In short, don't overthink recognition. Give it freely, and trust us when we say that people will be happy to receive it. 

Recognizing these patterns?

That said, our workplaces operate under many unspoken norms. As such, recognition in the workplace tends to be biased toward these types of recognition:

• Top-down recognition: When recognition is given by a leader or manager to an employee.
• Performance-based recognition: When recognition focuses on official work performance or results.
• Peer-to-peer recognition: When one gives recognition to the people they work directly with.

Although it's important to give any type of recognition, we remind you that recognition does not have to follow these traditional models. As a matter of fact, Applauz should be used for all kinds of recognition.

For example, with Applauz you can also give:

• Bottom-up recognition: When employees recognize their managers and leaders.
• Soft skill recognition: When recognition is based on someone's personality, character, or soft skills (not just on performance).
• Inter-departmental: When teams support one another through recognition.

To inspire you to start giving different types of recognition, we are letting you behind the curtains to see the Applauz team's newsfeed and how our employees give each other recognition. We hope that it will inspire you to do the same!

Examples of Recognition from the Applauz Team

Bottom-up recognition

Bottom-up recognition is when employees give shout-outs to their managers or leaders of the company. Traditionally speaking, recognition in the workplace follows the opposite — a top-down model. This means recognition is given by leadership to employees. This type of recognition is critical; employees need to feel valued!

But we also believe that for a recognition program to truly flourish, everyone needs to feel valued – this includes managers and leaders. That's why we love to see bottom-up recognition on our newsfeed. 

Here are just a few examples of Applauz employees giving recognition to the leadership at Applauz.

Soft skills recognition

Recognizing peers and employees for their great work performance is important. After all, this is about work. But it's equally important to remember that impactful recognition focuses on more than just business outcomes – for example, you can praise someone for their sense of humour, positive attitude, or their dependability. In short, you can give recognition just to say something nice about someone. Yes. It's really that easy. 

Here are some examples of Applauz employees giving this type of recognition to each other. 

Cross department recognition

It's easy to fall into the habit of giving recognition only to people in your department or team. This is normal as they are the people you work closely with. But don't forget that giving cross-team recognition can be very impactful.

For example, think of someone from another team or department you collaborate with occasionally; is there something you can recognize them for? Or has another department accomplished something major recently? Then consider giving that entire department recognition (more on that in the next point).

Here are some examples of cross-departmental recognition where a member of the customer success team gave a shout-out to a member of the marketing team.

Team-based recognition

It's most common to see people giving recognition to one peer or one employee. However, it can be equally as important to give recognition to an entire group or team.

For example, if one of your teams has reached a major milestone or achievement that was the result of a great team effort, then why not give recognition to the entire department? 

Recognition for taking initiative

Taking extra initiative at work (AKA going "above and beyond") can take many forms. For example, working long hours to get something difficult done, coming up with new ideas, and lending someone a hand to help a project move along faster. The main idea is that taking initiative requires going outside of your normal responsibilities. 

This reason for giving recognition is often overlooked. I imagine it's because we often don't notice when others take initiative unless it impacts us directly. Or taking initiative happens in discrete ways, in other words, it doesn't always lead to big outcomes or results.

But it's important to notice because these actions are suggestive of an employee who is very engaged with their work – and this should be rewarded! That's why when people take initiative at work, it is prime time to give recognition! 

Recognition for upholding company values

If your company has a set of company values, or even if your department has team values, a great way to recognize your employees or peers is when they embody those values. Remember: you can even create custom Badges to reflect the values unique to your company and award them to employees and peers for living those company values.

Giving this type of recognition feels really good for the employee to receive because it's more than just praising their performance. In addition, it's a great way to inspire others to meet the same standard of excellence.

Structured Recognition

When you think about giving recognition on Applauz, you probably think of giving recognition spontaneously. You're right. Applauz is often used to give unplanned recognition. But it can also be used to give other types of recognition, for example, recognition for recurring events or achievements.

Does your work calendar operate on a quarterly basis, for example? Then giving your team "structured," that is, predictable recognition at the end of every quarter, is an important way to celebrate your team's accomplishments for the past three months.

However, it's also important to remember to give unplanned, more individualized recognition between those larger milestones.

Here is an example of the Applauz marketing team receiving recognition for its quarterly accomplishments. 

Final Thoughts

One of the most frequent questions we get is, "when should I give recognition." In other words, people want to know what reasons they should give recognition. Hopefully, this article sheds light on all the different contexts you can give recognition on Applauz.

They are: 

• Bottom-up
• Soft skill
• Team-based
• Cross department 
• Taking initiative
• Upholding company values
• Structured recognition

Of course, this list is not exhaustive. There are always new opportunities to give shout-outs on Applauz. Remember that your messages don't need to be perfect. Any message, short or long, is sure to be appreciated by anyone on your team.