Graduations

Celebrations often leave a lot to be desired.

I was thinking of this as I attended my son's recent college graduation recently.  The ceremony was great.  I mostly enjoyed the speeches and presentations.  I was thrilled to watch him cross the stage in this celebration of the completion of the last vestiges of his childhood.

Graduations serve their purpose as a celebration of accomplishment and as a marker of time.  It is important for all involved (students, instructors, parents) to have a capstone celebration for something that is as intense and involved as many years of college, or high school, or graduate school, or military academy, or trade school, or...

Yet, I couldn't help but think that even the most tightly run, most carefully choreographed celebration that involves a whole group, or class, of people, is bound to have some time in which large portions of the audience aren't interested.

One of my son's friends said he thought it would be better if the college had an all night party, everyone watched the sunrise together and the president of the college handed out diplomas at breakfast.  He is probably right if the ceremony was only for the graduates.  Most parents would be happy if the college played Pomp and Circumstance, read only their child's name, and then invited the parents up on stage to take photos.  Most professors would probably prefer to leave things on the departmental level.

My point is that while big accomplishments deserve to have a big deal made of them, organizations should pay attention to the purpose of the celebration and the perspective of the participants and the targeted stakeholders.

While its not necessary to compete with the sunrise when hosting a celebration, understand that for some in your audience, that is an alternative.

Recognition vs. Ceremonies

In this tough economy, many companies are driven to eliminate any extraneous expenses.  Gone are the company cars, a good chunk of the expense account, the Christmas bonuses, Free Lunch Fridays, the "extraneous" raises, and so forth.  For the record, I have never worked anywhere that actually had a Free Lunch Friday.

The point is that as companies eliminate these expensive "perks," they would be wise to replace them with other low cost recognitions.  Even in tight times, especially in tight times, employees crave the emotional boost that recognition provides them.  In times of budget cuts and belt tightening, employees get nervous.  Recognitions can alleviate or at least mitigate their anxiety.  Recognition also helps to communicate and reinforce company values.  The company values what it recognizes and rewards.

The thing about employee recognitions or celebrations is that it is MUCH more important that they be sincere and timely than that they have a price tag of any significance.  A recent study suggests that the three things that workers want is interesting work, appreciation for the work that they do, and feeling as if they are being adequately communicated with.

If staff members have to wait until the annual Staff Celebration Breakfast to get the bronze plaque for the good job they did, they will value it much less than a sincere thank you from a supervisor that they get at a staff meeting immediately after a successful project.

So cut out the Annual Staff Recognition Awards Banquet if you must, but make sure that you redouble your efforts to give staff true recognition and genuine thanks when they go above and beyond.