I blog frequently on the topics of employee recognition and employee engagement, but what’s the link? It’s simple. Employee recognition, when done strategically, is a powerful tool for fostering employee engagement. In fact, our customers repeatedly see a double-digit increase in their employee engagement scores within months of implementing strategic recognition.

How is this possible? It’s like Eric and I said in our new book, Winning with a Culture of Recognition:

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“Strategic recognition gives company executives the tools to create and manage a culture of appreciation at their firms for competitive advantage. For the first time, employee appreciation emerges as a sound management method that moves recognition from anecdotal morale-booster to data-driven business discipline.”

I was struck when reading recent research from Towers Watson, “Incorporating Employee Survey Metrics in Incentive Design,” how similar our statement above aligned with Towers Watson’s statement on engagement:

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“We believe that actively managing engagement provides companies with a similar tool that can influence the overall performance of the organization while working within its strategic and competitive context."

“Actively managing engagement” – that’s precisely what we believe results from actively managing your company culture through strategic employee recognition as outlined in the book. Why does this matter? As Towers Watson says:

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“In short, leaders create the ‘culture of engagement,’ while managers play a critical supporting role in bringing the culture to life, serving as day-to-day distribution mechanisms for engagement programs.”

This mirrors what I preach consistently about why CEOs must lead strategic recognition efforts. Leaders put in place the desire for a culture of recognition, but managers bring that culture to life. Managers must both frequently recognize their own employees for the actions and behaviors that demonstrate company values and achieve strategic objectives as well as encourage their staff to also recognize and appreciate their colleagues and peers in the same way.

Only in this way can a culture of recognition be created, which actively feeds a culture of engagement.