Offering recognition is a powerful tool for turning around negative attitudes in difficult people. One way to recognize positive behavior is allowing employees to shine a light on their peers' contributions.
Wells Fargo Bank, for instance, has a great peer-to-peer electronic praise program called "E-wards" that allows any employee to recognize any other employee for doing a great job. Employees can send online thank you cards or e-cards to anyone they want to in the organization, and the system automatically sends a copy to a special "recognition mailbox" for tracking purposes.
Those being thanked are entered into a quarterly drawing for prizes. Wells Fargo also awards e-wards to employees nominated by their peers. The electronic award is sent for approval to the nominee's manager, who receives a certificate with the details of the employee's achievement, a scratch-off ticket for a gift worth between $50 and $250 for the e-ward recipient, and a sheet that provides ideas on how to best present the award based on the recipient's preferences. In its first year, 1,600 e-cards were sent and 900 e-wards were distributed in the organization.
SOURCE: "Tip of the Week" by Bob Nelson, www.nelson-motivation.com (October 9, 2006).