MBA1737 Should You Give Awards to Your Team? + Free Ride Friday

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Hey O welcome to the $100 MBA show, the business podcast that's always got your back every single day with our daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of Webinar Ninja, an independent software company I started with my partner back in 2014 and today's episode is Free Ride Friday. If you're new to the show, what we do on Free Ride Friday is give away a lifetime membership to one of our training programs. We're giving away easy course, our $500 course on how to build your own online course in 30 days over at EasyCourse co. If you want to win it, just leave us an Apple Podcast rating and review and you enter our weekly random draw. Just listen in on Friday to see if you won. It's that simple. It's our way to say thanks for showing us love on Apple Podcasts. In today's lesson you will learn should you give out awards to your team? Do giving out certificates and trophies and awards for different accomplishments really work or are they just cheesy? Are they actual useful tools to motivate your team members to keep working hard or are they patronizing and a little bit outdated? Well, we get into all that in today's episode. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business.

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Today's episode reminds me of a reoccurring episode that you might have caught on the Office. You know that sitcom with all those people working at Dunder Mifflin, the paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. There was this reoccurring episode of them all going to Chili's and attending the ceremony they called the Dundees, where Michael Scott, the boss of the office, would give out little trophies, the ones you would see, like at kids soccer matches, to the people at the office at the company for different and sometimes strange accomplishments on the show. It's very clear that only Michael Scott, the boss, is really enjoying themselves at the Dundees. They're all kind of forced to kind of go along with it. And it begs the question, is this a waste of time? Do people do this just because they feel they have to do this and recognize their employees in some way with some company party? Does this stuff ever work? And my answer is, yes, it does work. Even in the show, the office, when they got up in the Chili's to get their award, even if it's for the strangest thing, like whitest sneakers in the office, in that moment when they're receiving the award, they have a smile on their face. They're happy. Now, this is obviously the cheesiest, most lamest version of award giving in your company. But the point I'm making here is that everyone wants to feel recognized, wants to feel validated, wants to feel valued. And sometimes just being recognized by someone that maybe is your boss or someone they look up to in front of their peers is just enough, okay? Don't underestimate the value of praise. Praise is one of the most powerful things. People love hearing how well they're doing, want to feel good about themselves. They want to have confidence. And that doesn't happen by accident. You have to give them fuel for that confidence. So you don't need to formally have like an award ceremony and Give out certificates and trophies. But. But you do need to recognize and praise. In my opinion, I think you should do it in different frequencies and at different levels. So whether you're having a weekly team meeting and you're generally praising people, and then the next time you meet with everybody else, maybe you're all hands, you point out some people on your team that are doing a significantly good job and you praise them in front of your whole team. And then maybe once a year when you have your team retreat and when you're giving maybe a gift to them, a small gift to them, before giving the gift, you can say their name, you can recognize their accomplishments and their contributions to the team and why they're valued. And it's just a gift. But the gift will be perceived as an award because of the combination of the validation, the praise, all the along with the gift. And of course, you could do it in your own style. You can do it in your own brand and way of your business. And by the way, these gifts don't have to be expensive. They can literally be a pair of earphones or a notepad or a gift certificate. The gift value is really not that important. The thought really does count. And as long as it's something that they would like or will find useful, they'll appreciate it. Okay. And you can always crowdsource and ask questions about what people would like as gifts. This is something that we ask our administrative assistant all the time, Romina, to kind of find out from us. You know what would be a good idea if we wanted to give a gift to somebody? This praise, this recognition, this gift giving. It doesn't have to be a formal, once a year company party type of thing. It doesn't have to be the Dundees, right? It could be sporadic. It could be off schedule. It could be because you just had a major release or launch. It could be because it's their work anniversary. It can even be just something significant to them in their life. They just got married or had a baby. All these moments of praise and giving is a reminder to the employee that, hey, you care that you remembered that you got their back. And you're not always gonna remember. You're not always gonna hit all these great moments. But as long as you do enough, your team will appreciate it because they feel appreciated, because they feel recognized. I can't stress how much that's important.

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Before I go, I want to just quickly give you some last tips. When you're praising people, when you're talking about people, whether it's in a video call or in person, people like seeing their name in print. I know this sounds strange, but psychologically, people like to see their name on a PowerPoint slide. They like to see their name on the whiteboard, whatever it is. That's why people have names engraved on trophies, right? People like seeing their name. They like to see it and have it be seen by others. Next, try to be as consistent as possible with your recognition and praise. Don't fall off the wagon and get busy and forget about it. Even if you have to put yourself reminders on a calendar to do so for different individuals on your team, go ahead and do that. And then lastly, I want to tell you that if you do this, this is a huge differentiator. I've run many businesses in the past. I've worked at many places and this is not the norm. Many people will come to your company, receive this type of treatment and be like, wow, I've never worked at a place that that recognizes me like this. And this is a great retention tool. This is a way to get the most out of your team and also keep them happy, keep them talking about you in a positive light to their friends and family. The bar is quite low. A lot of people work day in and day out and are not recognized by their peers, by their company, by their managers. By you taking these small steps, you become a superstar company. Thanks so much for listening to the $100 MBA show, but today's episode's not over. It's Free Ride. See who won this week's Free Ride. And the winner is. That is the handle on Apple Podcasts Mod Class Photo. Their review says, great for thinking outside the box. Five stars. One of the reasons why I listen to this show is that it offers me a different perspective on things. I run an E course for small business owners and this podcast keeps me inspired. Thanks so much for helping me in my business and helping me see things from a different perspective. Well, thank you Mod Class photo for that great review. And you are A Free Ride Friday winner. Your mission is to email me over@omar NBA.net so I can hook you up with the lifetime membership to Ezcourse. If you want to win a free ride, just leave us an Apple Podcast rating and a review and you enter our weekly random draw. Until you win a free ride, just listen in on Friday to see if you want. It's that simple. Thanks so much in advance for doing that. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. Your relationship with your team, with your colleagues, is like any relationship. If it's just all take and no give, people will feel resentful, they might feel devalued, and they're going to start looking elsewhere and might move on to a different relationship. So keep that in mind. It's all relationships. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in Monday's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

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