Recognize Daily

Good leaders remember to recognize and motivate employees. Great leaders do it every day. Take a look at the following methods for ensuring that praising employees becomes a part of your DAILY routine:

Make employees a part of your weekly "to do" list. Add the names of the people who report to you to your list of goals to accomplish. Then cross off names as you give them praise.

Use voice mail. Rather than using it only to assign tasks, leave employees voice mail messages praising them for a job well done. Do it from your cell phone on the way home if you need to.

Write notes at the end of the day. Keep a stack of note cards on your desk, where you can't ignore them. At the end of the day, take a couple of minutes to write thank-you notes to any of your employee's who made a difference that day.

At the beginning of the day, put 5 coins in your pocket. Throughout the day, each time you praise an employee, move a coin to your other pocket. Pretty soon it will become habit and you won't need the coins.

It doesn't always take a lot to make that leap from good to grrrreat. A bit of appreciation goes a long way.