Thought 13JAN2009

YOUR WORK IS RECOGNIZED
It all began in Everett, Washington, where my project team was in the process of implementing one of our business system. One morning, as I walked through the parking lot with one of my employees, I found a penny and picked it up. Playfully, I presented the penny to the employee and said, "This is a discretionary award for your efforts." He put the penny in his pocket. "Thank you," he said. About six months later, I was walking with the same employee, this time in Los Altimos, California, when I again found a penny and gave it to him. Later, I had an occasion to go to his office and there, taped on a piece of paper, were the two pennies. He said he was displaying them as his recognition for a job well done. Other employees noticed the pennies proudly displayed and began asking why they hadn't received any.

So I started handing out pennies, explaining that they were for recognition, not for reward. Soon, so many people wanted them that I designed a penny holder. The front features a penny and beside it the phrase, "Your work is recognised!" The back has slots for 30 more pennies and the phrase, "Your achievements count!" One time, I spotted an employee doing something right and wanted to recognise her, but didn't have a penny, so I gave her a quarter. Later that same day she stopped by and returned 24 cents. That's how the "Prestigious Penny Award" was born. It's become a significant source of recognition in our organisation.
Gary Hruska - extracted from 'Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work' by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Maida Rogerson, Martin Rutte & Tim Clauss, Health Communications, Inc., 1996.

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Do not always expect good to happen, but do not let evil take you by surprise - Czech Proverb