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Recognition

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Everything that we ever wanted to know about life we learned in kindergarten. Remember receiving your first gold star from your teacher for a job well done? Remember how proud you were to show your friends and parents. As children we all appreciated recognition and before we even knew that money was really what made the world go round those little gold stars drove us to try harder and succeed.
So the debate rages on, is it money that motivates us or recognition? As much as we are materialistic creatures, the feeling of being recognized for a job well done in front of an audience of our peers is worth more than it's weight in gold. We are used to the process of grading from our teacher and ourselves from the time we enter the school system to the day we walk away from school as graduates. Keeping up the GPA and receiving recognition for doing so is the early form of recognition that continues when we move into the working world.

Recognition has the ability to motivate people to keep trying to improve and to measure their accomplishments against their peers. As a manager of sales associates will find, the competitive nature of human beings make us prone to performing at a higher level when we are recognized for our accomplishments. The daily sales meeting, recognizing top performers, is the foundation that feeds the employees desire to succeed. For example, in the entertainment industry where artists are paid more than The President of the United States, the feeling of being recognized by their peers for their achievements is the highest honor, ranking higher that receiving more money for a project. An award of recognition or a positive review has the ability to motivate an artist to keep pushing themselves to the next level. Recognition is the element that promotes creativity and change. Without recognition there is no drive to succeed at a career or a project. As much as money is important to sustaining our standard of living, recognition is the underlying factor that keeps us striving to improve ourselves and continue to grow in our career and as valuable employees.

Learn more about this author, Danielle Williamson.
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