Missing the obvious in employee recognition | Claire McCarty | TEDxUWRiverFalls

Sure pizza and doughnuts at work are a nice treat, and employees won't turn down a free holiday turkey, but is this actually helping employees feel recognized and engaged at work?
Claire McCarty, a professor in the College of Business and Economics at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, has spent over 25 years bridging the gap between management theory and practice. It's been estimated that up to 70% of U.S. workers are emotionally disconnected from their workplaces. The lack of recognition is certainly one reason. In an era of limited time, money, and energy, we need to focus on what actually works.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

[@SharonGrimm]

Spot on and extremely power talk. As a former all-star catcher in high school, I always cheered on my pitchers and did nothing but encourage them the whole time. On & off the bench. I understood it was a mindset as much as talent. Thank you for reminding me of the importance of this in the world. Love your tips on accepting a complement too, this is awesome! Well done and for that I just purchased your book. Mike Robbins you rock!

[@flappypenguin231]

STELLAR talk! Great tips on providing positive recognition in the workplace. Some of these may seem awkward at first but keep in mind that PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. If providing positive recognition in these ways seems awkward to you then you probably aren't doing it often enough!

[@_ADHK293A_]

wow, this is great content. Simple and powerful. I'm surprised it has this little views. This will help a lot of organizations of all kind. I'm going to apply it. Thank you Claire !

[@shanagirl33]

Excellent video! Such simple ideas, and such a huge impact they could have!!! Should be required viewing for all managers. Thank you!!

[@jacquelinekincade3156]

are transcripts of these talks posted anywhere?

[@belindarault5487]

Excellent! Thank you Claire! I'm busy preparing a training programme called Leading Remotely for the Managers and Team Leaders of our organisation, following the many challenges we faced working from home during lockdown and preparing ourselves for the "new normal". Recognition is a vital driver and too often forgotten. Managers and Leaders generally take things for granted. Lately, so much emphasis was put on front liners, people working in "essential services" during lockdown - and rightly so - but what about those working from home ? How do they feel? Not essential suddenly? How do we give them a sense of purpose? The "new normal" will mean flexible working hours, trusting employees working remotely and having to engage and lead teams who are scattered, some being at the office, some at home. Putting emphasis on employee recognition during regular Teams or Zoom meetings with the team members will certainly help reset the right buttons and encourage employee bonding and commitment.

[@deliagianoglu9778]

Amazing speech!! Kudos 🙏❤️

[@purpose2414]

Great video.✔️✔️✔️✔️ My school's admin needs to watch this.

[@joeloh7378]

This is one of the most powerful Ted talks. I had to stop my self from sending this video to my bosses. Great advice with depth and experience.

[@purpose2414]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@1ds05ec072]

You should send it to them... Might help them for all you know

[@peterv7258]

I really enjoy this talk and the simple yet elusive truths it tells. I believe that these techniques can be used effectively in many work settings, but I wonder if there isn't somewhat of a bias towards office types of jobs implicit in the talk. I try to imagine these practices where I work in a warehouse type job, and I don't see anyone in management having sufficient presence among all the various workers to be able to give meaningful feedback. In fact, there is much that they miss because they are busy also furthering production so that we can meet our goals, which is a daily grind which never ends, and the work is boring, simple, repetitive, and backbreaking, and low skilled.

[@clairemccarty3608]

You are correct, Peter. Very insightful. There is a bias here, although I did this training in manufacturing plants. We just have to come up with what works in each environment. Management can NOT be the only ones giving feedback. Everyone needs to do it!

[@charliecicchetti8139]

I wish I had some recognition at work and in life this is fantastic thank you Claire 👌

[@henriquesaboia2742]

I am sure the people around you think about it but more often than not, it never gets out. So, on behalf of them, THANK YOU. The world is a better place with you in it!

[@4444moore]

Outstanding. You really get to the depth of engagement. Thank you for the examples/ideas

[@clairemccarty3608]

Thanks, Katelin. Fun to do, but such an important topic.

[@christopherhanley7516]

Excellent talk! I know it's impossible but I wish we could replace our current manager with Professor McCarty.The part about service anniversaries reminds me of a previous job. I received "year service" certificates signed by the plant manager for three years-in three different handwritings! This is called the Bedbug Letter approach.

[@clairemccarty3608]

Love your story about Bedbug Letter approach. Be the leader you always wanted!

[@austinrwann5509]

100% agree and I don't know why our world is programmed opposite of this, but I want to help make a change! Thank you for this very powerful message!

[@mikethemechanic7395]

Best job I ever had. Was a company who had monthly company BBQs. Summer company picknick. A formal company party in the fall. A Turkey for thanksgiving and gift cards for the holidays. They also would give us tickets for basketball games etc. This company also treated everyone fair and was a great place for 7 years. Then it got bought out and changed to the opposite. My last job I was hired on with 2 other guys who have had the perks I talk about. This company was so bad. They never did anything to thank employees. They refused to pay for snow days or pay for training. They had no company functions etc. The demoralizing effects were huge. Us employees would bring in food since management would not. When they complained about the food. I told them. Not my fault you don’t buy us food. We all stopped brining in food. This company loved to thank you and give you pep talks. That lasted 1.5 years and a lied promotion to quit. Was in another job and they took away the free turkey because of the economy. It caused so much damage to the company. I saw people refuse to work hard for the whole holidays over something so simple.

[@MikeCee]

Impressive. Every person wants to be noticed. Why would it be different for employees. Thanks for sharing this amazing talk.

[@clairemccarty3608]

Thank you, Mike. I just came upon these comments and it made my pandemic day!

[@MikeCee]

@@clairemccarty3608 any time.

[@benjaminkorley2340]

Thank you Claire

[@clairemccarty3608]

Thank you for watching and leaving a nice note. Appreciated.

[@Wiintb]

Beautiful lecture. On HR, the issue is that the curse that has been casted on enterprises today is HR. Fire them all, we will have a great world forward.

[@SRN1850AN]

Still as relevant today as when originally posted!

[@clairemccarty3608]

Sadly true!

[@sadhvacman7238]

10 years at a company and not a word or even the obligatory, hire date anniversary card they’ve given every year.

[@itsmesteve1081]

I hate my job. boss just sits in office all day and only time he comes out is to take inventory to order more things for us to stock.

[@TheRemixedProduction]

That’s probably because he hates his job too, same applies to higher management levels also.

[@_dyl_aj3848]

What is the problem of the cart in the presentation?

[@clairemccarty3608]

Square wheels - making pushing cart more difficult! Using the round wheels IN the cart would make their job easier!

[@johnmartin7751]

I heard this same talk including all the examples used in another ted talk by a different speaker. Someone is not very original.

[@clairemccarty3608]

Sorry, to hear this. I've been delivering this workshop for 25 years....claire

[@luisfed97]

@@clairemccarty3608 Hey Mrs. Claire, if you ever read this, thank you so so much. All this emotions and ideas you put through with this conference really helped me connect with inspiration for my final work and research for my college degree in organizational psychology I'm getting in one month. Thanks a lot again 🙏❤

[@riseupnow7037]

This all is great and sounds great but........Employers don’t give a rats @$$! You are replaceable. Period. You get a paycheck. Nuff said!

[@kyleenafalzone3219]

thats not true. I care deeply about all of our employees and recognize them often.

[@arnokemp3723]

Anything new?