High Notes!

New ways to use Recognize Me! products

Impact Pads

1. Don’t forget those special work anniversaries. Pass the sticky note pad to each person on the team and have them write a special message or memory.  Cover the honoree’s chair or desk with employee recognition notes as a special start to their anniversary day.

2. Recognize those special “family” days such as birthdays, anniversaries or important events for your employee. For example, if someone is expecting a baby have everyone give new parent sentiments or advice and attach the notes to a gift from the team. Use an Employee Recognition Note to let them know you recognize and care about their life outside of work.  After all, working together is not all about work.

3. Have a “post a compliment” bulletin board. Place the employee recognition notes and several pens on a table. Let co-workers compliment each other. When the board is full, give the team a special reward. (Pizza lunch, afternoon off, etc.)

4. Have a little fun at your next team meeting. Place a post it note (or a couple) under/or on the back of a chair at your next team meeting. The person that sits in that chair will be the employee of the meeting. Let that employee tell three things about himself with one being true and two being false. See if the other employees can tell the true statement. It is a great icebreaker and will help your team learn more about each other.

Praise Pads

1. Host a contest for a little healthy competitive fun that will have a positive impact.  Every time a team member progresses towards the team goals, the smaller portion of these employee recognition notes can be used in a drawing at the end of the project.  The larger portion can be posted on a bulletin board for everyone to see.

2. During a review, having a way to remember how your employees performed throughout the year would be helpful.  The entire coupon can be presented to the employee.  After it has been read, the larger portion describing the recognized effort can be placed in the employee’s file.

3. Praise Pad notes are great in combination with other Recognize Me products.  The manager or team leader can present the entire coupon to the team.  The smaller portion of these employee recognition notes can be saved or posted.  Once the team has accumulated a significant number, the team can select a coupon from the Just Rewards booklet as a prize for such teamwork.

4. Praise pads make great icebreakers for newly formed teams.  Have everyone write three little known things about themselves on a praise pad note. Separate the small portion with the name of the person on it.  As the leader selects the larger portions in random order and reads the 3 facts, the team tries to match up the smaller “name” portion to the mystery person’s facts.

5. This can also be used as a wonderful way to offer praise to team members and have everyone participate.  Have the team leader read the name from the smaller portion and let the team identify three contributions that person makes to the team.  Let the person keep the larger portion of the employee recognition note where their three contributions are written down.

Work Warriors

1. Keep several Work Warriors booklets out where the whole team can access them.  Spotlight one team member for the focus of the week or month.  Have every team member write a recognition note about that teammate’s contributions to the project or team efforts using one of the appropriate messages.  Cover the spotlighted team member's booth, PC monitor or chair with the uplifting notes.

 2. Have the team leader come up with a motivating phrase or company slogan (such as “Great Team Work!” or “The Sales Dept. Rocks!”) appropriately used by the team.  Pull out as many message sheets as needed to put 1 letter of the phrase on each sheet.   As the team identifies members who have earned recognition for efforts matching the Work Warrior message, the team leader can reveal another hidden letter.  Once the team has revealed enough letters to guess the hidden phrase, the team could celebrate with luncheon where all the recognized messages are read to highlight total team efforts.

3. For a little healthy team competition, the leader recognizes department or team individuals with the appreciation of a Work Warriors message note.  The individual then gets to roll a dice or spin a wheel to get reward points as each message is earned.  Leader keeps track of total points by individual.  At the end of the designated time period, the team celebrates the high point Work Warrior with a reward!

Just Rewards

 1. Evaluation discussions and review time is a great moment to reward your employees for their efforts.  Using the "Write Your Own" Just Reward coupon reward for the high achievers would help keep them even more motivated.  The little extra bonus of a pizza party in their honor or a cup of coffee “on the boss” lets them know as a leader, you care about them as a person and not just the work.

2. Add a little suspense to the anticipation of the reward.  Put several of the team’s favorite Just Reward employee recognition coupons into individual envelopes and seal them.  As the team reaches milestones or significant goals, have a team member select a Just Reward employee recognition coupon from all the envelopes to see which reward the whole group gets to share.

3. Have the team leader identify with each team member a few key objects for them as well as the same number of Just Rewards coupons they really like.  As the individual team member achieves each objective, the team leader allows that individual to pick an employee recognition coupon from their selection for their reward.