Peer recognition

Acknowledgement of a contribution given by colleagues rather than awarded down a management line, usually through nomination or an open thank you.

Recognition that flows only downwards carries an implicit claim that the manager saw everything, which is never true on a piece of work of any size. Colleagues see what a reporting line does not: who unblocked whom, who answered the question late on a Friday, whose careful sequencing meant nothing broke. The cheapest form is a standing minute at the end of a review where anybody may name somebody else, which needs no budget and no scheme. It stops working the moment it acquires nominations, a monthly winner and a rota, because a competition has one victor and a field of losers, and anything scheduled is no longer unexpected.

See also

Where this comes up