It’s almost the end of the year! Most likely, you’ve got some holiday festivities in store for your organization or perhaps some other ways to highlight the close of 2017…but what about your plans for highlighting your people? While employee recognition should certainly be an ongoing practice for every leader, now is an opportune time to put emphasis around the importance of your staff and your recognition program. Before everyone gets caught up in final quarter business and seasonal fun, make a concerted effort to call out those who’ve met team goals, contributed to the organization’s success, or even accelerated their own growth and potential.

Here’s how to make recognition effective:

1. Focus On What’s Measurable
In an accountability culture, what gets measured is a big part of what matters. Review the numbers and recognize employees who have supported big successes. As well, look at smaller successes that contributed directly to some greater goal achievement and determine who played a role in those. Using these measures to identify your people’s good performance doesn’t just spotlight the achievement but reinforces your commitment to an accountability system, which provides a level playing field upon which all can work and strive to win.

2. Know What Motivates Your People
Not everyone gets excited by financial rewards and some people don’t like public recognition. On the flip side, some of your employees may be super motivated by a year-end performance-based bonus or feel incredibly empowered by having their work spotlighted in a company-wide meeting. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach here. So the best advice is to learn what motivates your people and do your best to match the recognition you provide to their personal motivators.

3. Take It Seriously
Think employee recognition doesn’t matter all that much? Think again! According to Human Resources Today, while most employers believe people leave companies for higher pay, HR studies indicate lack of appreciation is really what motivates employees to go elsewhere. Obviously it takes some time, money and creativity to recognize and reward your people effectively, but these are nominal sacrifices compared to the cost of having to recruit, hire and train new employees.

What have you done to recognize your employees this year?