Everything Counts: 52 Remarkable Ways to Inspire Excellence and Drive Results

Chapter 14. Rewards and Recognition Count

"Rewards continue to inspire long after specific accomplishments fade from memory."

A funny thing happens on the way to success: You build integrity, character, discipline, and a host of other intrinsic benefits that add credence to the old saying, "the journey is its own reward."

Goals are natural value generators, often because of what you learn and become en route to their achievement. But having a reward that honors and symbolizes that achievement is a powerful motivator for continued progress. Simply put, a reward is an extrinsic symbol for the enforcement and celebration of intrinsic values.

If you want to improve your performance results, increase innovation to gain and sustain competitive advantages, create an environment that fosters social responsibility and ethical behavior, and increase energy levels, then you must make rewards and recognition standard protocol. Whether it's a war hero receiving a Medal of Honor, an Olympic athlete winning a gold medal, an author being granted a Pulitzer Prize, or a young child winning a trophy for a local spelling bee—rewards and recognition promote and define excellence. They provide an effective but uncomplicated means for reinforcing quality behaviors. They not only serve to honor the accomplishments of exceptional individual or team performance, they bolster and endorse the specific actions, behaviors, and values that you are striving to put in place.

The one magnificent and common element behind ...