In my work with managers on offering meaningful recognition I have heard a lot of excuses as to why they don't recognize.

A frequent excuse is that they are afraid what they do will be perceived as unfair.

Over the past year I have been identifying the factors that affect people's perception of fairness when it comes to receiving recognition.

The first factor: The more you single people out the more likely you are to be perceived as unfair.

Hopefully, you are saying to yourself, "Wait a minute! Isn't that what recognition is all about, singling people out? Absolutely. Team recognition singles out teams. Individual recognition singles out individuals.

So, what should managers do? What they shouldn't do, is give in and stop recognizing. Instead they need think about what they can do to manage perception. More later...