Oxygen
If you’re a leader, understand this: Recognition isn’t a perk. It’s oxygen. Without it, people suffocate.
If you have seen a capable person slowly disengage at work, you may know how quietly suffocation happens. They start showing up a little later, speaking less, and volunteering less often. It's nothing dramatic; just the creeping absence of air.
The uncomfortable truth for leaders is that recognition is not a perk for good times; it is the oxygen people breathe at work. When it is present, you barely notice it. When it is absent, everything begins to fail.
This article unpacks why recognition matters, how to do it well, what to avoid, and which real-world examples show the idea in action.
Why Recognition Matters
1. It Satisfies a Deep Human Need.
Human beings are exquisitely sensitive to social reward. Functional MRI studies show that social approval activates the same reward circuitry in the brain as monetary rewards, including the ventral striatum.
In simple language, being seen and valued activates the brain’s motivation system.
2. Recognition Also Fuels Progress.
Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer’s research on the “progress principle” shows that the single biggest day-to-day motivator is making meaningful progress and noticing that progress.
Even small wins generate disproportionate boosts in positive emotion and performance. Recognition is the mirror that lets people see those wins.
Classic motivation research points in the same direction.
Frederick Herzberg’s work distinguished hygiene factors that prevent dissatisfaction (like pay) from motivators that spark satisfaction and performance. Recognition for achievement is central among those motivators. When leaders pretend recognition is optional, they remove one of the few levers that lift intrinsic motivation.
3. It Changes Business Outcomes
The data is not sentimental.
In recent years, employee engagement has slid. Gallup reported that only about one in three U.S. employees was engaged in 2024, the lowest level in a decade.
Recognition is one of the few levers that reliably moves engagement and retention in the right direction.
High-quality recognition is not just pleasant; it is predictive. Longitudinal research by Gallup and Workhuman, tracking nearly 3,500 employees across two years, found that employees who received high-quality recognition were 45 per cent less likely to leave. That is not a small effect size; it is decisive for any leader fighting churn.
These findings echo earlier evidence.
Deloitte’s analysis found that “high-recognition” companies experienced 31% lower voluntary turnover than peers with weak recognition cultures. That is an organisational outcome you can measure on a balance sheet.
4. Recognition Supports the Social Conditions That Drive Team Performance
Google’s Project Aristotle showed psychological safety as the top factor behind effective teams.
People speak up, take risks, and contribute when they feel respected and valued. Thoughtful, consistent recognition is one of the simplest ways to nurture that safety.
What Powerful Recognition Looks Like
Great recognition is not flattery. It is information-rich, timely, fair, and connected to purpose. Four principles separate meaningful recognition from noise:
1. Make it Specific and Observable
Generic “great job” lines feel cheap because they lack data.
The easiest way to be specific is to use the Centre for Creative Leadership’s SBI method: describe the Situation, the observed Behaviour, and the Impact.
“In yesterday’s client call (situation), you reframed the problem using their own metrics (behaviour), which shifted the conversation and led to a follow-up meeting (impact). Thank you.”
Specificity gives the recipient a playbook for repeating success.
2. Link it to Values and Progress
Recognition becomes culture when it reinforces what the organisation stands for.
Praise that ties the behaviour to a core value or visible progress on meaningful work multiplies its effect. Amabile and Kramer’s work shows that noticing progress is a daily performance booster.
3. Keep it Timely and Frequent
Delayed recognition decays in value.
Gallup’s recent analyses highlight that frequent, high-quality recognition is associated with higher engagement and lower burnout; the effect strengthens when recognition and feedback occur at least weekly.
Treat it like a leadership habit, not a quarterly ceremony.
4. Aim for Growth, Not Labels
Carol Dweck’s research warns that praising fixed traits (“You’re a genius”) can backfire by making people risk-averse.
Recognising effort, strategy, learning, and collaboration promotes a growth mindset and encourages people to take on complex problems. Shift from “You’re naturally good at this” to “Your preparation and iteration showed.”
What is Not Powerful
1. Vague, Inflated, or Transactional Praise
It lands as manipulation.
People notice when leaders praise to get something rather than to reflect something true. Dweck’s research shows that the wrong kind of praise can reduce persistence.
2. Recognition That Is Slow or Hoarded
If gratitude arrives only at year-end or only from the most senior person, you miss daily reinforcement.
Recognition should flow sideways and upward, not just top-down.
Recent Gallup-Workhuman research underscores the benefit of frequent, meaningful recognition from the people employees work with, not only their manager.
3. Spotlights That Ignore Fairness and Inclusion
If recognition always finds the same few extroverts, you create cynicism.
Build mechanisms that surface contributions from quieter teammates and from behind-the-scenes roles, not just visible heroes.
Google’s work on team effectiveness demonstrates the importance of balanced participation and respect.
How to Give Recognition
1. Build Recognition Into The Operating Rhythm
Make it a line item in meetings.
Start weekly team huddles by asking for one short “recognition shout-out” from peers.
Use asynchronous channels to capture wins in real time. Treat this as a process, not a personality. Frequent, high-quality recognition correlates with higher engagement; the process keeps it frequent.
2. Use the SBI Structure
Practice in writing before you speak.
In one paragraph, note the situation, behaviour, and impact. Then, connect to a value or strategy. Over time, this becomes your default language for praise, coaching, and course correction.
The clarity reduces defensiveness and increases repeatable learning.
3. Personalise The Medium
Some people treasure a public mention; others prefer a private note. A quick call after a tough presentation, a handwritten card, a visible post in a team channel, or a small, meaningful token can all work.
4. Recognise Contributions Across the Chain
Celebrate the closer who signed the deal and the analyst who built the model that made it possible.
Whole-system recognition teaches people how value is created and reduces the “hero culture” that burns teams out.
6. Tie Recognition To Progress and Purpose
Name the dent in the universe.
“Because you shipped that fix, we avoided a weekend outage for 200,000 users. That is our ‘trust’ value in action.”Progress plus purpose is the fuel most professionals crave.
6. Mix Recognition With Useful Feedback
Recognition is not the absence of critique.
Gallup’s research shows that employees who receive valuable feedback from people they work with are far more likely to be engaged. Recognition opens ears; specific guidance keeps people growing.
Frequently Asked Questions Leaders Raise
“Isn’t pay enough recognition?”
Pay is a necessity, not oxygen. Compensation prevents dissatisfaction but does not by itself produce pride, meaning, or sustained intrinsic effort. Recognition for achievement is a distinct motivator in Herzberg’s framework. You need both.
“Won’t recognition make people complacent?”
Only if it is vague or misdirected. Recognition that highlights effort, choices, and learning drives experimentation. The research on growth mindset is clear: praise the process, not the person, and you get persistence rather than ego protection.
“How often is enough?”
There is no universal quota, but weekly check-ins that include recognition and feedback correlate with higher engagement and lower burnout. Think cadence, not one-offs.
“Is public recognition always better?”
Public praise can amplify culture, but preference matters. Ask people what lands well, then keep a quick note on each team member’s preference. Public or private, the rules are the same: be specific, timely, and fair.
Conclusion
You will know recognition is becoming culture when two things are true.
1. People begin recognising one another without waiting for you.
2. People's stories about success become more about how we worked and learned and less about solitary heroes.
That is how teams breathe easier.
Science says recognition lights up the brain’s reward pathways. The management research says it fuels progress and retention. The practice says it is a few minutes a day, done with care.
Until next time, remember that recognition is how you distribute oxygen. Keep it flowing, and people will do their best work.
Dion Le Roux
References
1. Amabile, T. M., & Kramer, S. J. (2011). The Power of Small Wins. Harvard Business Review.
2. Center for Creative Leadership. (2025). Improve Talent Development With Our SBI Feedback Model and related SBI resources.
3. Conant, D. R. (2011). Secrets of Positive Feedback. Harvard Business Review.
4. Deloitte Insights (Bersin, J.). (2015). A new model for employee engagement.
5. Duncan, R. D. (2018). Close Encounters: Leadership And Handwritten Notes. Forbes.
6. Gallup. (2025). U.S. Employee Engagement Sinks to 10-Year Low.
7. Gallup & Workhuman. (2024). Employee Retention Depends on Getting Recognition Right and Workplace Recognition Research hub.
8. Gallo, C. (2011). Wow Your Customers the Ritz-Carlton Way. Forbes.
9. Google re:Work. Understanding team effectiveness: Psychological safety.
10. Izuma, K., Saito, D. N., & Sadato, N. (2008). Processing of Social and Monetary Rewards in the Human Striatum. Neuron.
11. Mueller, C. M., & Dweck, C. S. (1998). Praise for Intelligence Can Undermine Children’s Motivation and Performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.