A few years back, I spoke for a health care company in Cincinnati, at their annual conference. After my presentation on a Monday afternoon, I attended the Awards Banquet that evening. There, I was reminded about the value of rewarding Team Members for outstanding achievement.

My client has several locations, and the evening began with an award for the star Team Member from each location. The first winner set the tone for the evening.

When the winner’s name was announced, tears filled her eyes. Her immediate Team Members (Those that worked at her location) stood up and cheered wildly. The rest of the room followed, and an enthusiastic standing ovation from the entire Team filled the room.

It took a few minutes for this young lady to hug her peers, wipe the tears from her eyes, and proceed to the stage to receive her plaque. She had her picture taken with the owner and president of the company. As she walked back to her seat, everyone stood up and cheered again. Again, she received hugs from several Team Members.

The final award was for the most successful location, and the winners jumped up and down, congratulating each other, as if they had won the World Series. The rest of the Team Members cheered, and started to dream about winning the award next year.

I had a great time, watching as deserving Team Members received their awards. This award ceremony demonstrated the value of recognizing and rewarding outstanding achievement in any organization.

My health care client had an awards dinner as a special part of their annual conference. They hired speakers to train their Team on Customer Service, Teamwork, etc. for 1 ½ days. They spent the dollars and time to bring their Team to Cincinnati for education, fun and networking. The awards banquet took place in the evening of the first day, and the response was overwhelming!

Do you have a regular awards program? Here are a couple of reasons why you should consider one:

1. It gives people a target.

I see opportunities to “catch them doing something right” everyday in the workplace. Some companies do this better than others. Whether you give awards annually, monthly or weekly – it gives your Team Members something to shoot for!

I’m sure that several people watched their peers receive awards, and say to themselves, “Next year, that will be me.” Even better, when the award for the best location was presented, several Teams looked at each other and said, “Next year, that will be US!”

2. It gives your Team a reason to celebrate.

In the health care industry (And your industry), there is a lot of revolutionary change. There are new challenges every day. Like my health care client, you must realize that you need to accentuate the positive whenever possible, and an awards banquet is a great way to do that.

Even those that did not win were cheering for those who did. They all realized that they are part of a winning Team. There was genuine joy and caring in the room. No matter what industry you are in, there is always a need for celebration!

3. You reinforce the behavior you want to see!

As each award was announced, the president of the company told the audience why each person won. Of course, there were wonderful examples of personal and Team achievement that were presented during the entire course of the evening. The Team got a better understanding of what their leaders expected – and rewarded!

At the end of the convention, this Team left with renewed energy, exciting dreams – and a sense of achievement.

Being rewarded in front of peers is a great way to increase productivity. You can do this for your Team in a wide variety of formats. The bottom line is this – everyone wins. Including you!