Why Recognition Creates High Performers (Not the Other Way Around)
Your Comms Coach
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Most leaders think the sequence goes like this: performance first, then recognition.
They wait for results before showing appreciation. They hold back praise until someone really proves their worth. They assume people need to earn being valued.
Here's the mind bender: the sequence is backwards.
I learnt this in my early twenties from a leader who saw potential I couldn't see in myself. I was inexperienced, nowhere near the performance level expected of me. If she'd waited for me to deliver results first, it would have taken years.
Instead, she did something radical. She made me feel valued for my unique perspectives before I'd proven anything. She called out specific contributions even when I didn't recognise them myself. She showed me I was on the right track, which helped me actually see the track.
The result? Accelerated performance.
Why Smart Managers Resist Recognition (And Why That Makes Sense)
If recognition feels uncomfortable or inefficient to you, you're not alone:
- You don't need constant praise to perform, why should your team?
- Giving positive feedback feels forced when you're trained to spot problems
- You don't have time -- the work needs to be done first
Here's what's actually happening: You're trying to bolt recognition onto an already overwhelming workload, using no system and getting no support. Executives have communications teams to craft messages that land, systems and teams to manage recognition.
The issue isn't your communication style. It's that you don't have the support you need.
The Mattering Crisis: Your Hidden AU$50K Problem
Thirty per cent of workers report feeling invisible at work. Another 39% say they don't have someone at work who cares for them as a person.
Zach Mercurio calls this the "mattering crisis." Here's what it costs you:
- 65% of employees feel unrecognised
- 78% of those who stay cite feeling appreciated as their top reason
- At least half the workforce is quiet quitting - doing minimum work, psychologically detached
Translation: At least half your team could be one recruiter call away from costing you AU$50,000 each. They're not looking for therapy. They're looking for basic acknowledgement that their work matters - something that takes 90 seconds done right, or zero impact done generically.
The conventional wisdom says these people need to perform better to earn recognition. The data suggests waiting for performance first is the slower, costlier path.
Three Retention Practices That Take 90 Seconds
Mercurio identifies two components of mattering: feeling valued by others and knowing you bring value to their lives.
Three practices create this sense of mattering.
Noticing means seeing and hearing people so they feel understood. Not just acknowledging their presence, but genuinely perceiving who they are and what they're experiencing. This isn't about becoming their therapist - it's simply recognising they have different motivations and concerns than you do.
Affirming means showing people how their unique contribution creates impact. This is where specificity becomes critical, and where generic "good job" praise wastes everyone's time.
Needing means demonstrating how people are relied upon and indispensable. Not through guilt or pressure, but through genuine dependence on their contributions.
These practices don't require new programs or initiatives. They integrate into existing interactions, which makes them accessible to every manager regardless of formal authority or budget.
Why Specificity Changes Everything
My early leader didn't offer generic praise. She told me specifically what I'd done that was helpful, even when I hadn't noticed it myself.
Performance reviews showed exactly how much I was progressing. She laid out clear plans for what would come next if I kept going.
This specificity didn't just feel good - it accelerated my performance because I could see exactly what to replicate.
Research backs this up. Authentic and personalised feedback ranks as the top variable that makes recognition feel meaningful. Generic praise doesn't carry the same weight as acknowledging exactly what someone did well and how it contributed.
The difference between "good job" and "your analysis of the customer feedback identified the exact problem we'd been missing which was..." is the difference between noise and signal.
One creates a vague sense of approval that's quickly forgotten. The other creates a clear map for future success and repeatable impact.
Why Managers Resist This Approach
When I ask managers why they don't make people feel seen and valued, I hear several reasons.
Some had no encouragement themselves and still became high performers. They assume everyone is able to follow the same path.
Others had leaders who drove them relentlessly, and that pressure made them perform, which got them noticed and promoted. They're replicating what worked for them.
Many find it uncomfortable to give positive feedback. Noticing and affirming doesn't come naturally when you've been trained as a leader to fight fires and identify problems.
The most common objection? "It takes too much time and energy when there's just so much to do already."
This is where the compounding effect becomes critical.
The Compounding Effect That Saves You Money
Employees who receive daily recognition are 98% likely to feel valued by their employer. Those receiving yearly recognition? Only 37% feel the same.
This isn't linear. It's exponential - and it directly affects your retention costs.
Each specific acknowledgement builds on the previous one. Each time you call out a contribution, you're not just creating a moment of appreciation. You're building a pattern of recognition that shapes how someone sees themselves and their work.
My early leader's consistent, specific feedback created a compounding effect. Each acknowledgement helped me see patterns in my own contributions. Each performance review built on the last, creating momentum that accelerated my performance.
The alternative is expensive. When managers wait for performance before showing appreciation, they're choosing the slower path - and paying AU$50,000 every time someone leaves instead of being retained.
Recognition That Fits Your Natural Style
The recognition practices work, but only when they match how you actually communicate - not some idealised version of a "people manager."
If you're naturally direct, forced warmth feels fake to everyone. If you lead through strategy, emotional check-ins feel awkward. If you're relationship-focused, purely transactional recognition misses the point.
The systematic approach works when you understand your natural communication style first, then get specific prompts and approaches that fit how you already operate. This is what transforms recognition from emotional labour into efficient practice - tools that work with your instincts, not against them.
Our Communication Style Assessment identifies your natural style and shows you recognition approaches that actually feel authentic to deliver. Because forced recognition is worse than no recognition - everyone can tell when you're reading from a script.
This is where AI becomes genuinely useful. Using the CARE framework - Context, Audience, Result, Emotion - you can quickly generate recognition messages that sound like you, address your team's actual reality, and create the specific outcomes you want. Instead of spending 30 minutes crafting the perfect acknowledgement, you spend 3 minutes giving AI the right parameters to work with your natural style.
Recognition Without Extra Time: Integration, Not Addition
You don't need additional time. You need different attention during the time you already spend with your team.
In your next one-on-one, notice something specific about how someone approached their work. Not just the outcome, but the thinking or effort behind it. Thirty seconds.
In your next team meeting, affirm someone's unique contribution. Call out exactly what they did and why it mattered to the project outcome. Forty-five seconds.
In your next project assignment, demonstrate how someone is needed. Show them you're relying on their specific capabilities, not just filling a resource gap. Sixty seconds.
Creating cultures where people matter is a choice available to every leader, regardless of formal authority.
You don't need organisational mandates or top-down programmes. You need consistent application of noticing, affirming, and needing in your daily interactions - matched to your natural communication style so it feels genuine, not forced.
When you make people feel genuinely seen, specifically valued, and demonstrably needed, you're not just improving individual wellbeing. You're creating the conditions for retention.
My early leader understood this instinctively. The research now proves it systematically.
The compounding effect starts with your next interaction. Make someone feel genuinely seen, specifically valued, and demonstrably needed.
That's how communication becomes a retention strategy, not just a leadership skill.
