GREAT Staff Recognition Workshops & Resources
Half or Full-Day Workshop:
Staff Recognition: One Piece at a Time
Staff Recognition: One Piece at a Time focuses on the five ingredients of meaningful staff recognition that fit together like a simple jigsaw puzzle. Each piece helps complete the picture of gratitude and strengthens the message of appreciation.
Participants will discover simple, inexpensive ways to provide Genuine recognition that is enhanced by being Relevant, Explicit, Appropriate and Timely (i.e., GREAT staff recognition).
The workshop includes lessons and individual and group activities that focus on dispelling the myths that are barriers to frequent recognition, unleashing the power of peer recognition, using recognition as a means of creating an inclusive workplace, linking recognition to career goals, providing eco-friendly recognition, delivering team recognition and avoiding practices that reduce the impact of staff recognition.
Participants will begin to create their own staff recognition tool kits and a plan to assess their staff recognition practices. Everyone will receive a multi-page workbook filled with relevant exercises, staff recognition tips, checklists, scripts and more.
Keynotes and Convention Breakout Sessions:
Thanks! GREAT Job!
Explore each of the ingredients that make staff recognition GREAT—Genuine, Relevant, Explicit, Appropriate and Timely. Boost morale, improve retention and increase engagement with high-value, low-cost staff recognition tips, tools and techniques that fit within your limited budget and busy schedule.
“This presentation was excellent. There were lots of ideas from the presenter and from the participants. I liked the interactive component.” — Elizabeth Grill, principal
“I thought this was a great session. Offered some great reminders, ideas and insights.” — Sheri Bullough, assistant principal
97 Staff Recognition Tips in Just 60 Minutes
No time here for theory! Just 97—or more—simple, cost-effective tips, tools and techniques to recognize staff that you can begin to use Monday morning. Guaranteed! There will even be a few minutes left to answer your questions (and, maybe, to glean just a little bit of theory).
“I feel very motivated to continue this work—and to do it better after attending this session. Thank you! … This session gave me some new ideas and further motivated me to recognize our school community.” — Erinn Anderson, teacher
“I appreciated how many ideas you fit in. I am going to get back to more thank-you cards and recess coupons. I liked the fast pace and practical examples. Presentation was clear and easy to read.” — Heather Dawson, teacher
Filling Your Staff Recognition Tool Kit
Recognition is most effective when it is Timely, delivered soon after witnessing behaviour you appreciate. Dip into your staff recognition tool kit to recognize staff quickly. During this session, you will receive suggestions of what to include, participate in activities and brainstorm with others to plan a staff recognition tool kit that is uniquely yours.
“I thought the presentation was great and very timely for us at our school. It was useful to take a closer look at staff recognition, some of things (e.g. values) I wouldn’t have thought of.” — Hillary Banks, Learning Assistance Coordinator
Engaging the Staff Recognition Underground
Sure, managers, supervisors and other front-line leaders should be recognizing staff for their contributions and achievements, but that shouldn’t be the end of it. Peer recognition can become a powerful way to create a workplace where people feel valued as individuals and appreciated for what they do. This session will include suggestions on what leaders can do to encourage and support peer recognition and on how staff members can recognize their colleagues.
“You did a great job, giving me plenty of ideas. Maybe provide the complete notes ahead of time so (we can) annotate them. Great demeanour and presence. A lot of info to take and implement in my practice.” — James Stowe, teacher
“This session was filled with easy-to-implement ideas that will quickly improve school culture.” — Katherine Campbell, vice-principal
Where Staff Believe They Belong
The staff retention message is simple. People stay where they feel respected, valued as individuals, comfortable being who they are, and appreciated for what they achieve and how they contribute. Organized around themes from Thanks, Again! More Simple, Inexpensive Ways for Busy Leaders to Recognize Staff, this program is filled with simple ways to create a workplace where staff members feel they belong. When you feel you are where you belong, why leave?
“With teacher well-being and mental health a top priority for educators, Nelson’s realistic and effective examples for staff appreciation and belonging need to be at least part of every administrator’s tool kit.” — LaToya Bartlett, principal
Books and other resources:
Thanks, Again!
More Simple, Inexpensive Ways for Busy Leaders to Recognize Staff
By Nelson Scott.
Thanks, Again! doesn’t cite research or quote experts to convince readers that staff recognition is important. Thanks, Again! is written for managers, supervisors, school principals, small business owners, department heads and other frontline leaders who get it. They believe in the power of staff recognition to boost morale, increase engagement and improve retention. They understand that recognition is a tool to help staff members feel appreciated for how they contribute and what they achieve. They know that staff who are recognized will feel valued as individuals, included and comfortable being themselves—they are right where they belong.
Because frontline leaders are busy, with little time and limited or no budgets for staff recognition, Thanks, Again! includes staff recognition time savers and a penny-pincher’s guide to staff recognition. For quick access to what readers need when they need it, Thanks, Again! is divided into 30 themes. Each theme begins with a brief introduction (as short as a sentence but no longer than a few paragraphs), followed by succinctly written tips, tools and techniques.
Topics include recognition of staff working remotely; how recognition can help make a diverse workplace more inclusive; recognition for each season; peer recognition; eco-friendly recognition; practices and words to avoid because they are barriers to impactful recognition; and the role of senior leaders in developing a culture of appreciation.
Thanks! GREAT Job!
Improve Retention, Boost Morale and Increase Engagement with High-Value, Low-Cost Staff Recognition
By Nelson Scott.
Are you spending all your time recruiting, interviewing and training new staff…and then they just leave? Is staff morale low? Do staff members complain they feel unappreciated?
Insights and inspiration related to staff staff recognition can come from unlikely sources—a dog named Kojak, a graffiti artist, a reclusive executive, professional athletes, Goldilocks and Baby Her, and many others.
- A few topics you will explore in Thanks! GREAT Job!
- Why staff recognition programs don’t make much of a difference—and often reward the wrong things
- The essential ingredient of meaningful staff recognition and four others to strengthen your message of appreciation
- How retirement events become “funerals for the living”—but don’t have to
- The importance of families to your staff and to your efforts to recognize staff
- The excuses, rationalizations and cop-outs used to justify not recognizing staff
- Why you should never expect this “fat lady” to sing
Peer Recognition Cards
15 ways for staff members to recognize their peers.
Peer recognition may be the most powerful type of recognition staff members will ever receive. Unleash its power in your workplace by making peer recognition part of your staff recognition strategy.
Provide each staff member with a Peer Recognition card. The card includes an explanation of what peer recognition is and why it’s important, more than 15 tips on how to recognize colleagues, suggestions on how to prepare for peer recognition, and a brief description of the five ingredients of GREAT staff recognition.
Bonus: Every order will include a description of a 7-step process to unleash the power of peer recognition in your workplace.
Thanks! GREAT Job! Sticky Notes
Each stack contains 25 sticky notes.
- Single pack – 25 notes
- Pack of 5 – 125 notes
- Pack of 10 – 250 notes
- Pack of 20 – 500 notes
Staff Recognition Tool Kit
What you need to start recognizing staff:
Two books: Thanks! GREAT Job! and Thanks, Again!
- Bob Nelson’s 365 Ways to Manage Better perpetual calendar,
- A variety of thank-you notes
- A pen with green ink to write your thank-you notes
- Five pads of 25 Thanks! GREAT Job! sticky notes
- A 10-pack of Peer Recognition cards
- A Staff Recognition BINGO card
- A set of Recognition Rocks
- and several Staff Recognition tip sheets.
You Ask… I'll Answer
Do you have a question about staff recognition or any aspect of interviewing and hiring? Click the button below to send me your question and I will answer it in a future issue of Briefly Noted.