Leaders need recognition too
My regional directors told me the forum had become too heavy. An independent coach heard something else, and one of them later said it to my face.
Leaders need recognition too. We just rarely say it.
We tend to assume that once someone runs a region or a function, the title and the pay are recognition enough.
On Monday I wrote about a forum I set up that became too heavy for my regional directors. When it broke, they told me one to one it was bandwidth. So I asked an independent coach to speak with them. Her feedback was that they were happy and engaged. But she felt they perhaps also needed to be recognised out loud.
Then, at an offsite where I only listened, one of them said it directly.
You have not praised us enough.
My first reaction was that it was debatable, but later on I did reflect on that feedback, which helped me change my assumptions. Recognition is important for everyone. After that, in every town hall and every event, I made sure I praised my leaders out loud.
What the poll said
I asked the same question on LinkedIn: do senior leaders where you work get recognised out loud? The poll ran for a week and closed with 54 votes.
- Yes, openly and often: 44 percent
- Sometimes, mostly in private: 29 percent
- Rarely, they are expected to give it: 16 percent
- Never really thought about it: 9 percent
So a little under half said yes. The rest said it happens in private, rarely, or not at all, which is more than half of the people who answered. It is a small sample, and the people who vote on my posts are not a random one.
Do senior people in your organisation get recognised, or are they only expected to give it?