You have been asked to view this training because you are responsible for reviewing submitted nominations for a particular set of employees at the company (in most cases these people will be your direct reports). This training will review with you the role you play so that you can maximize the benefit this program has to you, your team, and the entire company. We recommend that you have first viewed the general employee orientation to the program before viewing.

As leaders we expect you will find this program a great asset to supporting your team. It will allow you CLICK to focus employees on the performance of those behaviors that achieve top results, learn about the great work your employees are doing, even when you aren’t there to see it, CLICK and thus ensure your employees are staying engaged and effective. The key to getting the most value out of this employee engagement and recognition program, however, is in ensuring that nominations are well-written. Without the opportunity to improve the power of nominations and some quality control there is a possibility that the strategic value of the program could be lessened. This is where you can have a huge impact in a small amount of time.

Now that we have covered the important role you will play, let’s review how you’ll go about this. CLICK When someone on your team has been nominated you will receive an email CLICK with the basic nomination content. The only time a nomination for someone on your team will not be sent to you for review is if YOU are the person that submitted the nomination. CLICK In this case it will be bumped up to YOUR approver. To maximize the impact that nominations have on your team, we recommend CLICK reviewing and approving within 2-3 days of being notified of a submission. Since the approval process is quick and easy - and can even be fun - we haven’t found that building the habit of quick approvals is too much of a challenge, however; just in case, if an approval sits for more than three days you will begin to receive CLICK reminder emails to ensure the nomination isn’t forgotten. To approve a nomination CLICK just click on the link at the bottom of the email.

… you will see the information that was submitted by the nominator, CLICK as well as some additional fields that are yours to complete. For each nomination you will need to CLICK rate the nomination as a one, two or three star. If you are CLICK approving the nomination as is, you will need to enter comments to both the nominator and the person being nominated. Take a minute to enter thoughtful comments - we have had feedback from our clients that the statements that leaders make when approving nominations can have even more impact than the nomination itself. If you’d like some ideas on phrasing these comments, there are templates CLICK appropriate for both participants available to use. CLICK Don’t get into the habit of using these templates without adding your own personal modification, however, as it will become obvious and detract from the acknowledgement! As the nominee will only receive communications about the nomination once it is approved, if you choose to send the nomination back for further work (or “return it”),CLICK only comments intended for the nominator will be sent. The templates can help you to tactfully request edits or additional information.

As we have already touched on, after reviewing the submitted nomination you have the option of returning a nomination to the nominator for editing. The reasons we usually see for a returned nomination are if it CLICK isn’t written in a way that is powerful and strategic – for example doesn’t CLICK clearly tell the story and describe the nominees behaviors. Also, if the nominator CLICK hasn’t fully explained the results or impact. CLICK Finally check if you agree with how the nominator has aligned the actions to your mission, strategy, or values. If nominations are returned for these reasons, it would be with the expectation that they are quickly updated and resubmitted for approval. However, CLICK if someone has already nominated the person for this specific action, you can return the nomination and let them know the story has already been captured and there is no need to resubmit.

When you return an nomination – in order to prevent people from getting discouraged, be sure to CLICK thank the nominator for their submission, and, if appropriate, CLICK encourage them to quickly resubmit the nomination so that the acknowledgement isn’t delayed for too long during the return process. CLICK Additionally, be sure to ask specific questions to guide their edits. CLICK Sometimes the most effective solution is to have a conversation with the person to gain clarity and then return it via email.

If you determine that the nomination is of good quality and ready to approve, you next need to decide which level of starring to select. The star rating will CLICK allow you to increase the recognition for actions that have a higher impact, it will also CLICK impact how prominently a nomination is displayed in the system. Finally, it allows you to CLICK sort more easily through the database of nominations when you are looking for that perfect story to tell to make a key point in a meeting or to differentiate you with a client.

Here is a summary of how to select the appropriate starring. CLICK A one-star rating is appropriate for an action that is part of the job expectations of the person being nominated. CLICK To reference a general example, a receptionist that does a great job of remembering clients names might get a one-star rating when being nominated for this behavior. CLICK A two-star rating is appropriate for an action that goes above and beyond someone’s typical responsibilities – CLICK If this same receptionist came up with a plan to review each day’s schedule to be prepared to always call clients by name and thus increase the welcome she gives – this might rate a two-star for showing initiative and going above and beyond. CLICK Finally, a three-star rating is reserved for those actions that that a big impact on your company’s desired results – lets say this same receptionist makes the connection between a friend that is a business owner and your company and this action CLICK results in new business. As you can see star determinations are CLICK as much about the role the person plays as the action they do – if a sales person in the company brought in new business this would be much more in alignment with their job expectations, and only if they did an especially good job of it would it be likely to be the subject of a nomination.

To give you some further context for the starring of nominations, here are some additional nomination examples, their suggested starring and the criteria used to make the decision. In this nomination, “a staff accountant spends the day educating an elementary school class about business”. In reviewing this nomination with key leaders, the recommendation was made that this be a one-star nomination as: This type of action, to be active in the community, is part of job expectations, but it is also an example of the LD Experience that differentiates us from other firms and a behavior we want to reinforce with employees In nominations such as this one – where many people will participate in similar activities - be aware of setting precedents. Reviewing nominations in the weekly email alerts you receive will help you to be in alignment with what other approvers are doing in similar nomination situations. Special circumstances influencing your starring? Include it in the nomination. In this instance it was seen as impressive that a fairly new employee was already volunteering in the community. If you are on the fence about the nomination you can either star it lower, but reinforce the nomination with a personal thank you – “I am especially pleased to see you getting involved so early in your career with us!” or star it higher, but be sure to include these special circumstances in the nomination description. Now that we have reviewed an example of a one-star nomination, let’s quickly review the INTENT of a one-star nomination.

People are sometimes surprised that our program encourages recognition for actions that are part of the job. In our experience, however, this is essential. People spend most of their time working on activities that are “part of their job” and therefore it can be argued that the greatest return to the company is in giving them feedback on how best to perform these most common activities As nomination are approved that indicate the best ways to accomplish these common activities, it helps to educate others on how to be more successful and have the biggest impact. In the end the cost of a one-star nomination is small, but the impact of recognition on turnover and productivity has been shown to be large. One-star nominations are low-risk and high-reward.

On to our next example. In this nomination, “a staff accountant works until 9:30pm to provide financial statements and accommodate a Member’s busy travel schedule.” In reviewing this nomination with key leaders, the recommendation was made that this be a two-star nomination as: This is again the type of behavior that delivers the LD Experience for clients and other employees Although dedication to hitting deadlines, even challenging ones, is part of job expectations In this case the length of the extra hours required and the fact that it was someone else’s schedule that created the need for extra effort makes it stand out as above and beyond.

Getting acclimated to one and two star nominations won’t take you long, but knowing the difference between a two and a three-star nomination may take more experience. Here are two examples of situations that were determined to warrant a three-star rating: An administrator learns that a key deadline is approaching and that the client has been admitted to the h`ospital. She comes up with a plan to visit the client in their hospital room to have them sign documents. The deadline was met and the client was understandably impressed by her initiative and dedication. A COO that lives part of each week at a newer LD office to help the office acclimate to being a part of LD. The new office certainly has a great example of the LD Experience at their disposal!

As starring takes some time to get used to, if you are looking for further assistance in choosing a star, You have many options. CLICK You can click on the help icon on next to that step of the approval form for a starring guide. CLICK You can also elect to either return the nomination for more information or have a conversation with the nominator for further clarification. It is much easier to select a starring if you have a clear picture of what happened! CLICK It also can be very helpful to forward along the email with the nomination content to a few other leaders to gain their opinion. CLICK OR if you are consistently reviewing company-wide approved nominations this should help you to compare your starring to that of other approvers. As a final note, we have found that starring is more of an art than a science, so trust your instincts and know that it will become easier to do the more practice you get.

So far we have reviewed a key part of your role regarding reviewing and approving nominations, but this is not the only part of your role. In looking closely at those companies whose recognition program has the biggest impact in the shortest amount of time, it is usually the visible participation of leadership that makes the biggest difference. Here are a few simple ways that you can engage your team in the recognition program and, in turn, hold your team accountable for delivering the desired experience. CLICK Know it – Keep informed on the program. You will benefit greatly from keeping up to speed on the nominations as they are approved. We have made this easy by sending out an email at the end of each week with overviews of the approved nominations. By quickly reviewing these you will stay in-the-know on key events within your team and throughout the company.

CLICK Do it – Your participation in the program is key. People will be watching to see how often you nominate others. So we recommend you start off strong. By nominating great events that you witness you have an opportunity to model the type of powerful nominations that are best suited to inspire the company and drive great results.

CLICK Discuss it – the database of nominations provides fantastic fodder for discussion. By taking even 5 minutes to share key nominations, the impact of the actions described, or the values they support in all your routine meetings allows you to recognize and encourage the above and beyond behaviors you most want to see in your team.

CLICK Finally, Celebrate it – our online system makes recognition easy to do consistently, even in busy times, but there is no substitute for face-to-face thank yous. Spend 10 minutes a week personally acknowledging great successes outside of the online program. CLICK These simple steps, in collaboration with our online recognition program, will help you to direct the behaviors of your team and the company towards the experience you want to deliver and towards achieving the desired business results.

This concludes the presentation on approving nominations, you can now try your hand at starring the sample nominations provided in your leadership guide. You will be reviewing these examples as a next step to your approver training. Thank you for your time.

Approving Employee Recognition Nominations

Recognition as a Leadership Tool Focus on important behaviors Overview employee performance Keep employees engaged

Approving Pending Nominations Approve within 2-3 days You don’t approve nominations you submit.

Approval Form Form for Approving a Nomination Lead by Example Teamwork Operational Strength Customer Satisfaction Products, Knowledge and Expertise Ed Smith Nancy Johnson Caution: Use sparingly and personalize Nominee(s) Nominator Nancy Ed

A. If it isn’t powerful or strategic: Step 1 – Tell the story Step 2 – Share the results or impact Step 3 – Link to the mission, strategy, or values B. If someone has already nominated for it When to Return Nominations ?

Tips on returning nominations: Thank the nominator Encourage them to quickly resubmit Ask specific questions Have a conversation first Returning Nominations ?

More recognition for higher impact Impacts how the nomination is displayed Sort through nominations more easily Starring Nominations

Star Ratings for Nominations  “Thank you” for doing your job well Receptionist that does a great job of remembering client’s names  Going above and beyond      Going above and beyond AND having a significant impact on results     Receptionist that decides to review schedules to be prepared to welcome clients by name Receptionist that brings in new business Link starring to job expectations and impact

One-star Nomination Example Expert Educates our Future This nomination is for a staff accountant that spends the day educating an elementary school class about business. Recommendation: One-star nomination Why? Part of the job expectations Example of the LD Experience Note: be aware of setting precedents Special circumstances influencing your starring? Include it in the nomination description.

The Power of a One-star Nomination The importance of recognition for actions that are “part of the job”: Giving feedback on most common actions Sharing best practices with others Recognition is low risk, high reward

Two-star Nomination Examples Wyle Makes the Extra Effort This nomination is for a staff accountant that works until 9:30pm to provide financial statements and accommodate a Member’s busy travel schedule. Recommendation: Two-star nomination Why? Example of the LD Experience Part of the job expectations With special circumstances that make it stand out as above and beyond.

Three-star Nomination Examples What does “significant impact” mean at LD? Here are some anecdotes that summarize situations that would facilitate consideration as a three-star nomination: An administrator solves a challenging client situation by taking initiative to visit them in their hospital room to sign documents and meet a deadline. A COO commutes between two locations for an extended period of time to support the acclimation of an office into LD.

When in Doubt… Starring help icon ( ) Return the nomination for clarification Forward to other approvers Review approved nominations

What is Your Role Moving Forward? In addition to the timely approval of nominations: Know it Keep informed Weekly email updates

Nominate People are watching Model nominations What is Your Role Moving Forward? In addition to the timely approval of nominations: Know it Do it

In every group meeting Share nominations Discuss impact Encourage behaviors What is Your Role Moving Forward? In addition to the timely approval of nominations: Know it Do it Discuss it

Personally acknowledge success What is Your Role Moving Forward? In addition to the timely approval of nominations: Know it Do it Discuss it Celebrate it

Thank You