Non-Monetary Awards

Recognizing Hard Work, Customer Support, and Innovation

Sometimes all it takes is a little pride in your work to feel pride in yourself. A few years ago, I took over for a preeminent software development team. The team had quite a bit of talent but was struggling to deliver products, on time and to spec. During our daily stand-up meetings with operational elements, my boss, and my peers, the developers were criticized and blamed for operational failures and schedule slips. And while it was extremely difficult to sit there and take it, frankly our colleagues were correct. We weren’t delivering. [Now, operations personnel also had a role in the failures but that’s for another time.]

In addition to struggling technically, the criticism was taking its toll on the team’s morale. The effects compounded with every missed deadline, and the volumes of unsatisfied requirements piled up. Further, our boss formed a new team to create internal competition and our customers started to look for alternative solutions from different vendors. We were in a bad place.

As the leader, it was my job to find a way to rally the troops, improve morale, and turn the situation around – regain our reputation by delivering quality products on time, every time. That formed the basis for step one which was to establish the team’s shared core values. Step two was to communicate these values very clearly, often, and in many different forums and formats. Step three was to reinforce these values and hold ourselves accountable to our ethos. To complement cash awards, time-off awards, and promotions, I established three honorary awards to recognize those who walked the talk when it came to our values:

• 1. Hard Work – a working man's beat-up Fred Flinstone-style lunch pail


• 2. Customer Support – a stack of [mile]stones / deliverables / satisfactions


• 3. Innovation – a wildly novel, modern sculpture

On a monthly basis, the Technical Director and I reviewed our staff’s progress and selected individuals and teams to receive these awards. We held the bar extremely high. If no one rose to the occasion, we didn’t hand out the award(s) and if no one challenged the reigning champs then we praised them for winning the award yet again. After only a few months, the awards became coveted. Folks crowded into the awards ceremony to see who won. We publicly praised the team members and echoed their embodiment of our core values, teamwork, and mission accomplishments. We brought them on stage, shook their hands, handed out trophies, and asked them to say a few words about their accomplishments. We hung plaques on the wall with their names for all to see. We encouraged them to decorate the rotating trophies so that they would forever leave their mark. And at the next month’s ceremony, we brought them back on stage to help hand out the awards to the next winners. Additionally, we highlighted their projects during town halls, advertised their work in weekly activity reports, shared letters of appreciation, and briefed their accomplishments at every opportunity to senior leadership.

With a whole lot of enthusiasm, support, perseverance, and faith, and a little bit of my own money for the trophies, the team responded. I was so proud of them! They were proud of themselves – as individual contributors, as team players, as technical professionals, and as operational partners. We were having fun and getting things done! With each small win the momentum shifted in a positive direction. Before we knew it, we met our goal: our reputation was stellar – we were delivering quality products on time, every time! Our operational partners praised us during the daily stand-up meetings and identified our hard work, customer focus, and innovation as the foundation for their operational successes. Years later, I’m still proud of the team!

“The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more.” – Jonas Salk, American virologist, medical researcher

This is part 1 of a 4 part series on Non-Monetary Awards. Please review the other articles for creative ways to show your workforce how much you care about them and appreciate their contributions to upholding your organization's values.

Part 1: “Non-Monetary Awards”: Recognizing Hard Work, Customer Support, and Innovation. --- This article.

Part 2: “Hard Work Awards”: Celebrating Hard Work.

Part 3: “Customer Support Awards”: Focusing on Customer Satisfaction and Performance.

Part 4: “Innovation Awards”: Sparking Innovation.