Lori McKnight

Nomination programs are extremely popular and used by many companies to improve engagement, encourage teamwork, reinforce culture and recognize great work.

Nomination Programs are an effective way of motivating employees to focus on core values, strategic initiatives and goals – IF designed and implemented strategically.

Consider the following questions…

• Is your nomination criteria aligned to support the business?
• Are there inconsistencies with approvals and the amounts awarded?
• Is there a significant lag time between submittal and approval?
• Are pending nominations getting lost in the day-to-day email clutter?
• Are recipients being announced inconsistently?
• Is there a disconnect between the recognition and the real impact on the business?

There are 3 fundamentals that determine the success of every nomination program:

1. Review Your Nomination Criteria. Keep the online nomination form short and easy to complete yet require a specific example or reason of how the nominee’s actions are aligned with and impacting one of the company’s core values, strategic initiatives and/or goals.
2. Assess the Approval Process. How nominations are approved or denied should be a transparent and objective process. Some clients use rating criteria while others prefer to base decisions on an individual or team evaluation process. When it comes to the award amounts, approvers should have clear criteria on how much to award.
3. Amplify Your Communications. Promote your achievers and their achievements. Social recognition tools have made it simple to communicate achievements company-wide. Celebrating individuals and teams will reinforce desired behaviors and performance with all employees, across the company.

Most nomination programs fail due to the issues cited earlier. CSISTARS can assist in defining the specific behaviors, selection criteria and promotional ideas so employees know what is expected, want to participate and do the things that support your strategic initiatives and goals – measurably.