The Trophy or Award you give to an employee or associate today can motivate that person to earn your business your next Trophy or Award tomorrow. This is not hype it is just fact. We all need motivation. However, many business owners seem unaware of the fact that recognizing their own employees with a trophy or an award presentation may motivate that person enough to cause them to gain the company the next trophy or award that it receives. Obviously this simple “quid pro quo” scenario is not always the case. Numerous studies do show, though, that recognition in the form of a trophy, a plaque or any type of award, especially in conjunction with the presentation of that award, occurring in front of a group of peers or coworkers, may even rival a monetary bonus in terms of personal motivation of the particular individual. So to expand on the statement above, it should read, we all need motivation and many people respond differently to the various types of motivation that might be offered.

As scary it might be, it is true that some men evaluate their entire being by the number of toys they have collected or their ability to perform in some sport or activity, and perhaps the number of trophies they have won for that particular prowess. They may be an award winning provider for their family, a wonderful father, even a blue ribbon neighbor and highly respected member of the community. However, as you sit and talk to them, their entire focus may appear to be only and simply their golf game or their bowling or whatever passion it is that drives them to fill their trophy case. In today’s highly competitive society it is not unreasonable for men and women to be competitive among themselves. The desire to excel at whatever you do is natural, and the ability to excel in any given sport or activity outside the workplace is commendable and deserves acknowledgment, a plaque or a trophy is excellent as recognition. Therefore, whether it is the team trophy or an individual award or trophy it is quite reasonable that it might mean a lot to any given individual. It is very possible that it can give them a more positive experience in their daily lives and even help motivate them to do better work.

This is quite different from the specific recognition we are talking about in terms of singling out an exemplary employee and recognizing them with a trophy or special award. Only in this situation is it likely that the person receiving the trophy might gain the kind of motivation from the presentation that could cause him to reach his full potential for your company. Many companies have employees whose capabilities are far beyond their daily output in terms of either the quality of their work, or the volume of their work or both. Singling out an employee of this type and recognizing their abilities in front of their peers and coworkers can motivate the individual to strive to reach his or her full potential and can even motivate the other workers to attempt to improve their production in a way that will get them the same kind of recognition. We have all heard the old cynical saying: “do unto others as you would have them do unto you, but do it first.” We are trying to present that saying here, but in a new light: “reward your employees as you would have them reward you in return, but do it first. It just may pay off.”