And the award goes to....

Be proud of the award. You deserve it!

Awards. Recognition. A sense of accomplishment. A piece of paper/plastic/plaque that shows that you were deserving of special notice. Many of us are very familiar with awards, dating back to the wee early years of school. If you did a good job, a gold star would go next to your name. If you did extra credit, maybe you got a few extra points on your test or grade. Even in work, the notion of recognizing those who do an above and beyond job is still very much present.

So why bring this up? It's not surprise companies use this as a motivational tool, right? I wanted to discuss this because today we have our Birthday and Service Anniversary Lunch Recognition. During this time, the company gives out two awards to employees who have displayed an above average level of work and went so high above that their manager and/or co-worker wanted to pay tribute. Seems hardly worthy of discussion, but there are a few things that irk me. And not the fact that I don't always win (hardy har har....).

I'm a strong believer in awarding those that do a good job; great job even! I'm all for motivation and making the employee/co-worker happy and ready to continue working harder. I just find it discomforting when managers don't recognize their employees and it falls to the wayside. A lot of people go to work off the saying of "pay me, don't praise me". But why can't we have both? Why do we have to wait until review time to hear how we have been doing? Would it be better to hear it once every (or every other) month or just once a year? Which one would you prefer?

I look around and see a lot of people deserving of an award. Deserving of their 15 minutes of fame. But it normally doesn't occur. You would think you would have to have performed major surgery to get any notice around here. Why is that? Why can't a customer saying "good job" to a manager be enough for the manager to say something? Why does it always have to be that once in a lifetime thing you did that gets you a pat on the back.

I don't mean to harp or be spiteful, but I think we, as a society, have placed too much importance on awards to the point where a lot of us feel that this is how we know we are heading in the right direction. I know everyone can't be superstars everyday, but we can also be noticed for our contributions.

So let's make today "Award" Day. No matter what job you do, no matter what position you are in, let today be a day for your recognition. Be proud of the work you do and be proud of your contributions to your company (and even society). Let's not let companies dictate who is better than others. Let's all deserve to be recognized!

....*kicks feet* still would be nice to have that award though....