"Thanks so much for everything you have done for the team. Your input has been really valuable.
.
"Can you write something on our company portal so that people can see what I have achieved?!

Many of us don't think about a difference between recognition and appreciation. However, recognising what we want for ourself, and what others want, will help us to achieve a better outcome.

Appreciation

This is where we are truly thankful for something that someone else had done. We can express it using our feeling in what is often personal and direct. For example, my wife appreciates it when I bring here a cup of coffee when she is sat watching TV. Appreciation is involves a degree of emotion and for someone to really appreciate something that there has also to be some sincerity. If there sincerity and emotion are not behind the appreciation then we can often detect that is being disingenuous.

Recognition

Recognition is more public. It's about status (think Maslow needs hierarchy). This is where someone wants others to see what they have done. As such, it doesn't involve the emotion or even sincerity in the same way as appreciation. You can recognise what someone has done by mechanisms like publishing results or score tables.

Why is this important to me?

Sometimes when we have put a lot of effort into something we are left feeling unsatisfied afterwards. Perhaps, for example, our boss has put our name in the company newsletter but never came and thanked us personally. We are left feeling that is a bit cold and we were hoping the our boss would come and thank us personally. That is because we were hoping for appreciation not just recognition.

In reality, we are all different. Some people tend to lean more to appreciation rather than recognition and some may lean the other way. It perhaps depends on the activity and those involved. However, sometimes our boss (or whoever else it is) won't understand what we are looking for. If they don't understand, there is a chance we are left feeling disappointed. Did we make our expectations clear?

Of course, this doesn't just apply in a work situation. It also applies in our personal relationships like in a family environment. Think about what you want and set expectations (perhaps subtly) so as to not be left feeling disappointed.

Why is it important as a leader?

To get the best from your team, you need to understand what makes them tick. We need the team to be motivated and that often comes from positive re-enforcement. However, if someone is driven by recognition and we are always showing appreciation but not giving them the recognition they are looking for, we are not motivating them in the best way. That will lead to us not getting the best out of them.

Try to work out what drives and motivates your team members. They will all be different. We're human after all.

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Graphics in this post are created by me using the following sources: 1 2