Rewarding and recognizing people for good work is a basic principle of a Catholic Health Care culture, and a fundamental part of the Caritas people accountability policy. Effectively rewarding and recognizing people's performance is essential to enhancing people's natural motivation to grow, developing a positive sense of self worth, and to feeling the joy of making a difference through rewarding, meaningful work.

Study after study reveals that, to be effective, organizational reward and recognition must be positive, fair, delivered in a timely way and, above all, must be meaningful to employees. In fact, failure to "get it right" can actually cause people to become demotivated and demoralized. So how do we know what is the right way for Caritas?

I recently had the privilege of meeting with many staff, managers and senior executive to explore people's perceptions about the meaning of reward and recognition, and what things motivate the desire to do great work. Of course, I heard about the importance of formal methods such as equitable and sufficient pay, incentives and benefits, but this was far outweighed by the need to focus on more informal methods that reinforce the sense of personal satisfaction and pleasure one experiences from good work done and goals achieved.

What really motivates people? I was told about the importance of expressions of thanks and positive recognition, acknowledgement of "me as a person", and to feel valued and affirmed for personal skills and abilities. I heard about the need for freedom to be innovative, to be different, to take risks; that we have many people who quietly go about things in creative, innovative ways but never receive the recognition for their courage in doing so. The opportunity for personal growth and development, involvement in challenging, meaningful work, making a difference and obtaining balance between home and work life were also highly rated as positive motivators. Of particular significance was having positive working relationships with friendly supportive people who want Caritas to be a rewarding place to work, and to be recognized and rewarded for the collective accomplishments of teams.

Many talked about the desire to share "stories", not only about successes, but also about the things that did not work out so well, so that we can acknowledge the attempt and learn from each other: a key to true innovation.

I was left with a sense of an overwhelming desire to create an environment where acknowledging and showing appreciation for contributions each person makes becomes a daily occurrence, and where everyone feels valued for his or her unique skills.
I t is my greatest wish that we can all continue developing the kind of relationships within Caritas that allow us to have meaningful conversations about how we can reward, recognize and support each other as we build a culture of hope together.