Recognition is a Social Event – Real and Virtual

If you follow our twitter stream you would have seen a tweet about the business connection between Rideau Recognition Solutions and Pollstream the other day.  In a nutshell, Rideau is going to be using the products/services of Pollstream to engage their client’s employees and program participants in the wild and wooly world of social media (press release here).  If you also follow this site you know I’ve mentioned social media before and how it can have a profound impact on the connections within your organization (and between channel partners and consumers as well!) 

Specifically, these posts deal with the impact of social networks and connecting people:

• Social Media Will Change Incentive Programs – If Companies Allow It
• Can You Motivate Innovation?
• Support Networks Improve Performance
• Just a Matter of Time

Rideau Steps Up

Up until now I hadn’t seen any of the major incentive players using social media as part of their solution set so it was a bit surprising to see the press release.  Since I’m a big proponent of leveraging the “virtual” social scene I gave Peter Hart, President of Rideau Recognition Solutions a call to chat a bit about why they were including it, where it might go and how they see it enhancing the programs they run for clients.  I was happy that Peter spent about an hour on the phone and provided me with some great takeaways. (Full disclosure – I’m not recommending or endorsing anyone here – just saying it was interesting enough to prompt me to call.  I have no relationship – virtual or real – with Rideau.)

First and foremost Peter said that recognition is about the “why” not the “what.” 

In other words, just giving someone an award isn’t the real recognition – it’s the conversation about the behavior and the context of the action that truly drives recognition.  He sees the addition of social networks as a great way to highlight these conversations and get more people involved in the overall recognition process. 

Can’t disagree.

Having your boss provide recognition for specific contributions is one thing, but sharing that and allowing others to comment and connect round that recognition brings it to a whole new level. 

Peter believes that leveraging technology to enhance the social side of recognition is really where the future of recognition lies.  His company has invested heavily in technology and personalizing that technology to really connect the participants and the company.  He mentioned something that I hadn’t heard before but sounded great…

I really like that idea – “employer engagement.”  Maybe we need a new survey tool to rate that?  I agree with Peter that it probably takes the employer to make the first move in the engagement equation – especially with the economy forcing cutbacks in staff, benefits and bonuses.

Walking the Walk

Peter also mentioned they are installing the same technology from Pollstream being used in client programs within their own organization.  No shoemakers' kids here.  I think the fact that they are using the same technology as they are recommending goes a long way toward showing the client that this stuff is important and can truly influence the behavior of employees.

While the press release didn’t mention it, Pollstream has installed this technology at a few clients already and will be discussing a case history at the Motivation Show in Chicago in September.

I for one am glad to see a performance improvement, incentive, recognition – whatever they call themselves these days making the commitment to social networking as part of their overall employee recognition and engagement strategy. 

Kudos Rideau!