9 Best Practices for Global Recognition

GOING GLOBAL?

Best practices for global recognition

9

GLOBAL ORGANIZATIONS

face challenges recognizing their employees effectively

• Disparate programs

• Lack of support

• Little knowledge of local needs

• Concerns about equity and fairness

• Challenges managing the operational details

• Lack of information on the impact of recognition

WHY?

As a global organization,how can you address these challenges?

to help you design, implement, and sustain an effective recognition

strategy that delivers local impact.

9HERE ARE

GLOBAL BESTPRACTICES

Change your vantage point

Design recognition strategies from the outside in, not inside out.

1

• Don’t simply take strategies developed at headquarters and roll them out globally.

• What works in one country may not fit the needs of another.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

...so consider all needs before you begin.

2 Build a global stakeholder team

Engage your global stakeholders in the discovery and design.

• Invite in local market experts from HR, Finance, IT, Logistics, etc.

• The more they are involved the stronger the buy-in, overall engagement, and ongoing support.

• Broad global experience and expertise

• A thought leader who will guide, educate, and at times challenge your thinking

• Delivers innovative technologies with the ability to incorporate local needs and nuances into your strategies and solutions

• Provides the right design, technologies, tools, awards, and communications to create culturally meaningful and relevant experiences for every employee

3 Find the right partner

Look for a partner with these capabilities:

GET THE FULL CHECKLIST

4 Do your homework• Determine what your long term goals and objectives are

• Set forth the business results you want to impact

• Establish baseline metrics to measure success

• Discover local needs and nuances

• Involve your global stakeholder team

• Conduct global surveys and focus groups

• Talk to local leaders, managers, and employees

4 DO YOUR HOMEWORK Make a list of what you discover

Very familial culture— must be part of work environment

Low retention rates

Low program usage due to limited Internet access

Recognition seems impersonal

Limited visibility to great work happening across the globe

No criteria that defines what great work is in our organization

No systemic tools to appreciate a job welldone across the organization

LEARNINGS STRATEGIES

Take time to get the strategy right5• Position recognition as a business initiative, not a program

• Get your global team’s input on how to incorporate local nuances into the global strategy

• Build a framework design

• Get feedback along the way!

5 TAKE TIME TO GET THE STRATEGY RIGHT

LEARNINGS STRATEGIES

Very familial culture— must be part of work environment

Low program usage due to limited Internet access

Limited visibility to great work happening across the globe

No systemic tools to appreciate a job welldone across the organization

Keep family activity days including picnic and open house

Develop offline solutions

Incorporate recognition in company newsletter

Low retention rates

Recognition seems impersonal

No criteria that defines what great work is in our organization

Start recognition earlier: onboarding,one and three years

Manager training needed throughout the organization

Develop and communicate employee guidelines

Identify a partner who can help us with a consolidated global strategy

6 Create an implementation and deployment planThis includes:

• Developing a communication strategy• Look into translations, tying launch to local events etc.

• Addressing program configuration

• Establish operational details

• Planning for program testing (allowing time to get it right)

• Define invoicing, taxing, and reporting requirements

• Define budget and what’s equitable across countries

• Identify data requirements

• Determine timing of events

• Establish communication and branding strategy

• Detail translation needs

• Define invoicing, taxing and reporting requirements

• Outline logistics requirements

6 CREATE AN IMPLEMENTATION AND DEPLOYMENT PLAN

Identify and empower global champions7A champion is someone who comes by recognition naturally, it's part of their DNA. These are the people who automatically say thanks or send a card to someone for helping them out. You need champions throughout your organization to keep recognition top of mind, and help launch and sustain your strategies.

• Equip them with tools, tips, and training on why recognition is important and how to do it right

• Create a network or community that shares best practices and gathers feedback

• Inspire and engage them with fun contests

• Recognize champions for their efforts

7 IDENTIFY AND EMPOWER GLOBAL CHAMPIONS

Roll out communication, promotion, and launch strategies• Engage local stakeholders, leaders, and champions in the launch

• Generate excitement and make it fun

• Show employees how to use the program

8

Measure success and track opportunities for improvement

9• You can’t sustain a program on feelings, you need data

• Conduct ongoing surveys, review success metrics and measure ROI

• Get feedback from employees, leaders, and champions

• Evaluate and think about ways to renew/refresh the program

• Schedule regular check-ins with your recognition partner

NOW YOU’VE LAUNCHED THE PROGRAM

how do yousustain it?

KEEP IT TOP OF MIND

• Share stories across the organization

• Have recognition events

• Utilize contests

• Target communication to get employees excited

KEEP IT TOP OF MIND

MAKE RECOGNITION EVERYONE’SRESPONSIBILITY

• In job descriptions

• Hold managers accountable

• Use executives as models

• Recognize those areas or individuals that

do recognition well

• Coach areas that aren’t using the program as much

REINFORCE CONNECTIONTO STRATEGY

• Talk about it during strategy/board meetings, employee town halls

• Connect it to company initiatives

• Have one-time campaigns to recognize major accomplishments or company events

• Make sure it is a recognition strategy, not a recognition program

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE—

whendone wrong

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE—WHEN DONE WRONG

missteps• Program rolled out too quickly

• Didn’t involve local stakeholders early enough

• Didn’t incorporate cultural nuances

• Didn’t plan for change management at the local level

• Didn’t translate their materials

results• Program becomes the flavor of the month

• No one using the program

• No impact to engagement scores or other critical metrics

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE—WHEN DONE WRONG

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE—

whendone right

results• Solutions operate well

• Engaged employees doing great work

• Improved business results in each country

• Aligned, connected, collaborative, global workforce

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE—WHEN DONE RIGHT

9TOP

THINGSto do global right

1. Change your vantage point

2. Build a global stakeholder team

3. Find the right partner

4. Do your homework

5. Take time to get the strategy right

6. Create an implementation and deployment plan

7. Identify and empower global champions

8. Roll out communication, promotion, and launch strategies

9. Measure success and track opportunities for improvement

TOP 9 THINGS TO DO GLOBAL RIGHT

Get the latest recognition and culture insights.

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY

O.C. Tanner and The O.C. Tanner Institute

O.C. Tanner helps the world inspire and appreciate great work. Through our innovative cloud-based software, tools, awards, education and research, we provide thought leadership and strategic recognition solutions for thousands of clients globally. Designed to engage talent, increase performance, and drive corporate goals, our solutions create personalized recognition experiences delivered through a smart technology platform.

The O.C. Tanner Institute regularly commissions research and provides a global forum for exchanging ideas about recognition, engagement, leadership, culture, human values and sound business principles.