In my first ever professional role, I remember feeling very excited about the journey I was about to embark on. After almost completing my 2-year technologist degree in Information Networks, I wanted to demonstrate what I was capable of and how madly in love I was with technology. I can't quite put into words how I felt exactly, but reminiscing about that moment does bring a lot of good memories.

That was ten years ago! And I must admit, it does feel like a very long time ago. But at the same time, I remember a lot of things quite clearly. The one feeling I can't forget about those times is that I had a particular desire to prove myself and to be recognized. I wanted to be seen, to someone to notice my efforts and say "good job". It is a raw but honest thought, and I usually struggle to say it out loud because of pride, or to avoid coming across as needy, or simply because of ego.

After advancing in my career and reaching management & leadership positions, the concept of recognition shifted significantly for me. What was previously a driver towards performance became the engine that pushed me to acknowledge other people's efforts and hard work. It’s a wonderful feedback loop, a cycle that repeats itself by nurturing the sense of accomplishment against the results of hard work. The best part of my job today is being a spectator of my team’s success, and through them, also achieving my own.

However, times have changed. For the better or the worse, I can’t say, but that is a fact all of us must come to peace with: things change, life changes, everything changes… eventually.

So have changed the way we look at acknowledgement.

Most roles and positions in the technology industry shifted almost entirely towards the remote work model, and after a while I became aware that the system no longer works the same way that it did, and currently people’s motivation and drivers are no longer those of healthy competition, recognition or even passion (although I admit this is not an absolute observation); our society and economy outlook is forcing the vast majority to find multiple jobs so they can build a future to look up to, to maximize income while reducing effort, occupying time “pretending” to be productive because the alternative promotes workload penalties rather than rewarding. It is a complex reality to which there’s no easy way to change.

The importance of praise is now lost.

We know that the most important asset in any organization, institution, or business has, is their people. So why do we so easily forget that we should also optimize for them? Beyond benefits & compensation, expectations and evaluations, what are we doing to provide a platform and an environment for them to be challenged, to prove themselves, to make mistakes, to think outside the box, to innovate, to experiment, and become advocates of change? All those things are the seeds that lead to recognition and yield nothing but positive results.

There is also a phenomenon that I consciously try to avoid: not recognizing effort because it's repetition.

When you see a child do something new and hard, you immediately praise it for it; however, if the child continuously repeats the same thing (even if hard still), it is no longer new to the eyes of the one praising the child, so we do not acknowledge it anymore. This is a silly example, of course, but you get the idea: never get tired of giving praise to someone, never get tired of saying thank you.

Enough about that, I say. Let’s bring back for a moment the same feeling we had about making a difference in our environment and being useful to ourselves and our satisfaction. Let’s start by celebrating true effort, passion, competence, responsibility & integrity. 

Give a kudos, a fist bump,  type the “good work so far” or the “thank you for your effort”, let other people know you do see what they are doing and mean it.

To me, recognition is the most beautiful form of praise.