To motivate, keep innovating.

Motivation is a moving target. Just when you think you have it figured out, something changes and you have to start all over again. This is a big reason why you can't set up a single recognition or rewards program and expect it to work for everybody forever. One size does not fit all. People's expectations change. Programs get stale.

These are all reasons why I get excited when I see an organization trying to innovate in response to the demands and challenges of employee motivation. One such organization I recently worked with is Syncrude Ltd., one of Canada's largest energy companies located north of Edmonton, Alberta. Here are some examples of what this company has done.

John Thomas, manager of operations, helped to spearhead efforts to recharge recognition efforts, many of which had run their course in the preceding years. The company made a special push in the area of raising awareness and skills in informal recognition, because employees reported that to be most missing in day-to-day operations.

For example, John personally created a "pay it forward" award, which consisted of a simple plaque beating the name "The Pay It Forward Award," that he first presented to someone on his senior staff for exemplary work. On the back of the plaque, it describes how the award can then be given to someone else, at the discretion of the current holder. The award has found subsequent recipients, all of whom have appreciated the honor.

John reviews the performance appraisals for hundreds of people. He selects the ones identified as high peformers and writes them a personalized letter, extracting various points from the appraisal created for them by their leader. John also asked the leaders on the four shift teams and a day crow to identify three or four people on their team whom they had come to value and appreciate. He selected a high-performing leader to go out to field operations and pull those three or four individuals off their equipment for some personal recognition (often over the hood of his pickup truck!). John let's them know that their leaders have singed them out as high performers, and he tells them he appreciates that they are part of the ream, and why.

Nothing beats personal interaction when you want people to know they are important. Toward that end, John has started to schedule four hours a week with his loss management coordinator to go into the mine and meet individuals to talk about procedures, safety and morale and query them on whether or not they are receiving any positive feedback on their work performance. This allows employees an opportunity to talk with John about things related to their jobs that they know well (i.e., specific procedures), which invariably results in numerous related discussions. More importantly, it is an opportunity for John to get to know people better and have them each get to know and be more comfortable around John, who is responsible for some 600 employees. John uses this as a venue to talk with his workers about the kind of work environment management is attempting to create at Syncrude and to try to literally "walk the talk."

Other managers are doing similar things in an effort to create and sustain a culture of recognition. In fact, the organization is looking to have some senior leaders conduct informal workshops with the leaders of other teams throughout the organization as a way to help spread the word about positive recognition practices.

What impact have these efforts had? Says John, "I think if you surveyed our people both a year ago and today, you would note a significant difference in areas like morale."

Bob Nelson, PhD, is president of Nelson Motivation Inc., San Diego, Calif., and author of numerous books on motivating and energizing employees. E-mail: [e-mail]. Website: www.nelson-motivation.com