I don’t get it. After months of research, RFP reviews, demos, presentations and heated arguments, the Leadership Team finally approved the budget for the launch of a major employee recognition program.

And yet, in too many cases, not a single executive participates in the program, let alone the CEO, unless it’s to present a plaque or trophy at some formal recognition event.

Why is that? Is day-to-day, informal employee recognition too trivial, too bourgeois for the rarefied air of the C-Suite? Is recognition not worthy of management attention unless it’s attached to a grandiose award?

Did the Executive Team approve the initiative because they actually believe there is a strong correlation between culture, employee recognition and an employee’s emotional and intellectual commitment to the job? Or was it just because they say that “Employees are the Company’s Number 1 Asset” but don’t truly believe it?

The simple truth is that if it doesn’t matter to the boss, it doesn’t matter, and the recognition program will never have the impact on employee motivation that it could and should have. It will not ring true.

Conversely, what is important to the CEO will inevitably become important to the entire management team and the program could well become a movement that really moves the needle for your company. As the old adage says, where the head goes, the body follows.

Today, private social recognition software makes it instantaneous to publicly acknowledge employees who live the corporate values and reinforce what the company stands for day-to-day. If your leadership team doesn’t believe that taking the occasional few minutes out of their week to recognize those who inspire others is time well spent, they are sending a very clear message that employee recognition is just not a priority.

Worse, if Management doesn’t even know who your everyday heroes are, let alone what they do, your recognition program should be the least of your worries.

They approved the initiative and budget. Now the Leadership team needs to put their money when their mouth is. It starts with the CEO’s enthusiasm for recognizing your culture-builders, which will ensure the interest and active involvement of all levels of management.

Only then can you deem your employee recognition program successful.

Do you have any insights into the reasons why executive participation in informal recognition is so often near non-existent? Would love to hear from you.