The importance of recognition

In the bustling journey of life, we strive for personal growth, professional success and harmonious relationships. Yet, amid the pursuit of goals and tackling daily challenges, one crucial element can often go unnoticed or undervalued: recognition. Far from being a mere pat on the back, recognition acts as vital fuel for motivation, self-esteem and employee wellbeing.

The meaning of recognition

Recognition is the act of acknowledging and appreciating the efforts, contributions or even presence of an individual. More than just a compliment, recognition is validation that our actions, thoughts or existence have been seen and valued. It can take many forms, like a heartfelt "thank you", a commendation for a job well done, an award or even simply an encouraging nod. It can come from a supervisor, a colleague, a family member, a friend, or more importantly, ourselves. The Global Culture Report highlights that employees felt an increase in their wellbeing when they experienced recognition at work, either by giving or receiving.

Why recognition matters

The impact of recognition reaches deep into our psychological needs, serving as a powerful catalyst for wellbeing.

1. Boosting self-esteem and confidence

When we receive genuine recognition, it validates our efforts and confirms our worth. This external affirmation can significantly bolster internal self-esteem and confidence. It reinforces the belief that we are capable, that our contributions matter and that our presence is valued. This boost can be incredibly empowering, encouraging us to tackle new challenges and step out of our comfort zones.

2. Fueling motivation and engagement

Imagine working diligently on a project or putting significant effort into a personal endeavour without any acknowledgement. It's easy for motivation to wane in such a scenario. Conversely, when our efforts are recognised, it sparks an internal drive to progress forward. Recognition acts as a positive reinforcement mechanism, encouraging us to maintain or even increase our level of engagement and commitment, whether in a professional setting, a family unit or towards personal goals.

3. Belonging and connection

Humans are inherently social creatures, hardwired for connection. Recognition naturally plays a vital role in forming a sense of belonging. When we are recognised, especially publicly or within a group context, it signals that we are an integral part of that community. This sense of being seen and appreciated strengthens social bonds, reduces feelings of isolation and contributes to a more cohesive and supportive environment.

4. Reducing stress and preventing burnout

Our professional and personal lives can be sources of immense pressure. Feeling undervalued or unappreciated can exacerbate stress and lead to burnout. Recognition, however, acts as a counterbalance. Knowing that our hard work is noticed and appreciated can alleviate pressure, make challenges feel more manageable and provide the emotional resilience needed to navigate difficult periods, which supports mental health.

5. Growth and development

Effective recognition highlights specific strengths or successful actions. This precise feedback helps people to understand what they are doing well and allows them to build on those behaviours. It also encourages a growth mindset, where people are more inclined to learn, adapt and continually improve, knowing that progress will be acknowledged and celebrated.

6. The ripple effect

The benefits of recognition are not confined to the recognised individual alone. A culture where recognition is freely given and genuinely received creates a virtuous cycle. In workplaces, it leads to higher morale, reduced turnover and increased productivity. In families, it strengthens bonds, encourages open communication and creates a supportive atmosphere. Within communities, it encourages participation and collective achievement. By making recognition a norm, societies can become more compassionate, collaborative and ultimately, more successful.

Cultivating a culture of recognition

Integrating recognition into our lives involves both giving it to others and ensuring we are open to receiving it, even giving it to ourselves. Here are simple yet powerful ways to recognise others:

• Be specific and sincere: Instead of a generic "good job", try something like "I really appreciated how you... it was really helpful".

• Timeliness is key: Be sure to recognise efforts as close to the action as possible to maximise impact.

• Tailor the recognition: Understand what genuinely resonates with the individual. Some prefer public praise, others a quiet word of thanks.

• Recognise effort, not just outcomes: Acknowledge the hard work and dedication, even if the final result wasn't perfect.

Self-recognition is just as important - here are some practical strategies for implementing it:

• Be open to receiving: When someone offers a compliment or expresses appreciation, accept it graciously. Don't dismiss it or deflect. A simple "thank you, that means a lot" is enough.

• Practise self-recognition: Take time to acknowledge your own small wins, your perseverance through challenges and your personal growth. Keep a "win journal" or simply pause to celebrate your achievements, no matter how minor they seem. This internal validation is a potent source of wellbeing.

• Express gratitude for recognition: Letting someone know their recognition was appreciated can encourage them to continue giving it, thus reinforcing the positive cycle.

Ways to Overcome Perfectionism at Work

Many people see perfectionism as a way to be viewed as successful in their job, whether that’s through fear of seeming like a failure if everything doesn't go right first time or to gain respect from their peers. However, striving for perfectionism all the time can be extremely unhealthy for both your mental and physical health, depending on the job you do.

In many workplaces we are often criticised by colleagues or management for making mistakes as it can sometimes be costly and time consuming. This kind of relentless pressure can take its toll and can lead to mental health issues like anxiety, stress, and depression and can cause us to feel a lack of self worth. Not only this but striving for ongoing perfectionism can be exhausting.

Sadly, we live in a world where our lives are played out on social media and at the push of a button, we can remove our flaws and present an unrealistic impression of ourselves and our lives. Because we are continually being judged and scrutinised, we feel even more pressure to appear perfect in every way. Being at work is no different – we want to be perceived as a perfect human who succeeds in everything they do. But behind closed doors, we all know that this isn’t a realistic picture, and that can cause us to suffer from low self-esteem or even more serious mental health issues such as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) or eating disorders.

The impact of striving for perfectionism

Because we set unrealistic goals for ourselves, most of time to impress others, we are placing too much pressure on ourselves to be the best, to be respected, or to be admired and this is a recipe for unnecessary stress and anxiety. 

An article published by Healthline, states that "People [prone to] perfectionism hold themselves to impossibly high standards. They think what they do is never good enough. Some people mistakenly believe that perfectionism is a healthy motivator, but that’s not the case. Perfectionism can make you feel unhappy with your life. It can lead to depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and self-harm. Eventually, it can also lead you to stop trying to succeed. Even mild cases can interfere with your quality of life, affecting your personal relationships, education, or work.”

So how can we shift our focus from being perfect to being happy and fulfilled?

• Occupy your time with activities that make you feel happy to prevent overthinking outcomes at work.
• Make a conscious effort to enjoy the process of a task rather than just focusing on the results as this can increase your motivation and relieve some of the pressure.
• Try to let go of specific systems or routines that you might have put in place to ensure things are done a certain way and learn to be less rigid about structuring your work.
• Accept that you are human and it’s okay to be less than perfect as we all make mistakes sometimes.
• Instead of focusing on every little mistake, celebrate your successes instead.
• Stop comparing yourself to others, you are unique and will have different skills and qualities to others.

How to grow your self esteem and start taking risks at work

Some might consider this a bit of a ‘chicken and the egg’ scenario. Which comes first? Do we grow our self esteem prior to taking risks or do we take risks to grow our self esteem? Well, if the truth be known, a little bit of both can work wonders.

I hear you saying “I’m too scared. What if it all goes wrong.” But you’ll never know what is possible until you do take risks. But, okay, let’s work on improving your confidence first.

For whatever reason, many people lack self esteem and this can act as a huge barrier when trying to progress in all areas of our lives, including work. When we lack self confidence, it can leave us with negative emotions, which can influence the path we map out for ourselves in life. Too often we opt for the easiest or simplest route as we are too afraid of failure, anxiety, and stressful situations, but does that make us truly happy? A recent study undertaken by My Confidence Matters revealed that women are affected most by the lack of confidence and it is holding them back from moving forward in their jobs.

Sometimes we lack self esteem because of past relationships, and how people have treated us in our past can have a huge effect on how we treat ourselves. Just remember that whatever other people tell you or say to you isn’t always the truth, so you shouldn’t let it dictate how you see yourself.

5 tips for improving self confidence

1. Be kind to yourself. You know that you have positive qualities and skills, they just seem to go unnoticed. Remind yourself every day – write things down or just say them to yourself – about everything you like about yourself. It might seem difficult to begin with but once you get into the swing of it, you’ll start to find more and more things that you love. Don’t forget that when you run yourself down, your body and mood are negatively affected and likewise when you recall all your good points, your body and your mood improve.

2. Stop comparing yourself to others. Remember that everyone is different and has their own unique traits, qualities, and skills. Not everything is always as it seems – some people are just much better at ‘bigging’ themselves up than others. This doesn’t mean you have to go around telling everyone how great you are but if you believe in yourself, then this will show in your demeanour and attitude and you’ll find that people will start to think differently about you when they see that you feel confident about yourself.

3. Surround yourself with people who boost your self esteem rather than knock it down. If you don’t already have friends or family who you can rely on, try to find a new support network. Mind has lots of peer support and Elefriends is an online community where you can meet like-minded people wanting to support each other.

4. Set yourself challenges.  Challenges will help you take steps towards growing your self esteem. For example, learn a new skill such as a language, take up a sport or do something creative and you’ll see just how amazing it feels to achieve something, no matter how small.

5. Set yourself some work goals. Make a list of all the things you’d like to achieve at work, prioritise them, and then break them down into smaller goals. If you’d like to go for a promotion at work, what steps could you take to achieving your goal?

• Show initiative by taking on a small task without checking in with your manager first. Most bosses like to see an employee using their initiative.
• Demonstrate leadership skills by perhaps asking a colleague to undertake a part of your project that you feel their skillset would be better suited to.
• Speak up in meetings. Don’t be afraid to offer your opinions and accept that not everyone will agree with what you have to say but it doesn’t matter so long as they give your thoughts some consideration.
• Is there something in the company that you feel could be done better? If so, why not address it and offer a solution to the problem. Problem solvers are often looked upon favourably.

Once you start taking small steps, the more your self esteem will begin to grow and you’ll become less afraid to take risks. Remember, not everything will always go your way or work out how you want it to but it’s having the confidence to do it anyway and not letting the outcome affect who you are that’s important.

The art of positive self-talk

Self-depreciation is the default setting for most of us. We see only the negatives or areas for improvement, rather than our many qualities and skills.

Ironically, when we see this same behaviour in others, we criticise them for it: "If only she didn’t put herself down so much", we say, or "why can’t he see what a great catch he is".

The fact is, most of us are humble people. Bragging and blowing our own trumpet does not come easily. And that’s fine – arrogance is not a good quality – however, what we could all do with is some positive self-talk. It’s time to reassure ourselves of our own abilities and recognise the progress we’re making.

Positive self-talk makes us feel good about ourselves and can push us to perform even better – fulfilling our true potential. It’s the optimistic voice on our shoulder that fosters our self-belief and drives us to do bigger, better things with our lives.

On the flip side, negative self-talk, brings us down. It dampens our enthusiasm and stifles our performance. It doesn’t rejoice in our successes, rather focuses on what we didn’t do, or where we could have improved.

All of us could benefit from more positive self-talk in our lives. When it comes to how to do it, this article from Psychology Today suggests that using the third person in self-talk can help you step back and think more objectively about our responses and emotions. It can also help you reduce stress and anxiety.

All too often, our inner voice is predominately negative. We tend to remember the negative comments from our childhood and school days. The problem with negative comments is that they can become self-fulfilling. We replay them over and over to the point that we believe them to be true.

The sad truth is that we are often much harder on ourselves than we would ever be on other people. It takes a lot of positive self-talk to override our negative conditioning, but it can be done. Look at this article from Psychcentral for some examples of the things positive people tell themselves.

As a bare minimum, we should aim not to say anything to ourselves that we wouldn’t say to other people. Let’s afford ourselves the same respect and self-restraint that we would direct towards others.

Positive self-talk will not stop us from messing up from time to time. We all make mistakes. Positive self-talk is not about brushing over the negative or challenging events that happen in our life, it is about looking at what happens to us with a constructive eye, and with a realistic perspective. It’s about recognising the truth in situations and looking at how we can learn from our mistakes to help us grow in to better human beings. To expect perfection in yourself - or anyone else - is unrealistic. So let’s try to be kind to ourselves - always!

Evaluating your self-worth

Talking up our skills to other people and shouting about our achievements is not very British! As a nation we have a tendency to be understated and reserved. However, it's important that we have a reliable appreciation of what we're capable of so that we have a fair evaluation of our self-worth.

As this article in PsychAlive outlines, the key to appreciating your self-worth lies in not comparing your journey to that of others. It talks about the difference between self-worth and self-esteem and how they’re intrinsically linked. In a work situation, having a realistic view of your own self-worth is key to getting the recognition you deserve.

We all have some sort of measuring stick that we use to determine our value. We feel good when we feel we’re measuring up, but our self-worth can plummet if we feel we’ve fallen short. There are different measures that people use to measure their self-worth at work – and they’re often very different to how we measure ourselves in our personal lives.

The people we mix with

If you’re someone who needs the validation and praise from others to feel successful, your choice of who you associate with can have a big bearing on your own self-worth. Measuring your own self-worth on the basis of other people’s opinions is a risky situation. You can’t control other people and you can’t please everyone all the time. If you base your self-worth entirely upon how others perceive you, you’ll never be able to receive enough praise or positive reinforcement to feel good about yourself.

The title we connect with

Basing your self-worth on the job you do is also a big risk. Have you noticed how some people focus on job titles? Perhaps you're one of them? But just think about it. All it takes is a health problem or unexpected shift in the job market before your self-worth takes a hit. Even a planned retirement or career break, to have a child for example, could wreak havoc on your self-worth if your identity is wholly tied to your job title.

The achievements we’re associated with

Sometimes people want to be known solely for their accomplishments. Conversely, other people can’t stop beating themselves up about the one time they failed or didn’t achieve what they set out to do. It’s normal to want to celebrate and share our accomplishments with colleagues, however, basing our entire self-worth on them is a shaky practice. You’ll need to repeat success in order to feel good about yourself – and that’s hard to maintain.

The Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSES), developed by sociologist Dr. Morris Rosenberg is a measure widely used in social-science research. It uses a scale of 0-30 where a score less than 15 may indicate a problematic low self-worth. You can try a free version of it here.

Regardless of your results, the best advice would always be to measure yourself according to who you are, not what you do or your external actions. That’s the only way to ensure consistency and make sure that you stay in control. We like the tips shared in this Psychology Today article to boost self-esteem.

Building self esteem – in yourself and your work colleagues

Maybe following the influx of cards and chocolates earlier this week your self-esteem has already soared to a record high, but if that’s not the case, now is the time to do something about it!

Self-esteem is about feeling confident in yourself and your own abilities. In the workplace it’s easy to sometimes feel unappreciated or daunted by the tasks you need to fulfil. But it needn’t be that way.

Mind, the mental health charity, has compiled a comprehensive list of things we can do to boost our self-esteem – some of the actions we need to do for ourselves but several of them translate perfectly into the workplace.

Challenges

Successfully overcoming challenges is a great way to boost your self-esteem, so don’t be afraid to set yourself stretching tasks – you can do it! And when you, do you’ll feel amazing. If you're lacking in the confidence to achieve things by yourself, why not set a challenge that involves you and your work colleagues? Knowing that you've done something well together is a great way to build confidence in your own ability, and that of your work colleagues. Team building exercises, brainstorms and away days are all great ways to improve self-esteem and build better teams.

Assertiveness

Self-esteem is all about confidence. Confidence is built when we have the courage to assert ourselves. The work environment is a great place for feeling assertive. It is familiar to us, the people we work with know us and what we are capable of, plus we're surrounded by people who, mostly, want the same the things we do. Assertiveness is not about being aggressive or bossy, it’s the happy medium between being belligerent and passive. It’s about being clear about what you want and what you don’t want. In the workplace, assertiveness is about acknowledging the contributions that your team members make – while ensuring that your suggestions are equally recognised.

Read First Psychology Assistance's resource sheet on Assertiveness Training >

Read First Psychology's advice page on Assertiveness >

Support

Self-esteem is given a boost when we feel we have a strong support network – this gives us the courage to try, as we know someone has our back if we don’t quite make it. If your current workplace doesn’t have the support network you need, why not create one? Supportive work environments encourage people to take ownership and responsibility, safe in the knowledge that any mistakes made are learning experiences, rather than a reflection of their abilities.

Negativity

No-one likes negativity, but when your self-esteem is already low, it's easy to find the negatives when they’re not even there! However, change has to start within yourself. Negativity breeds negativity so that first step to a more positive work environment – and one in which your self-esteem can soar – is by being positive. Take time out of your working day to find – and note down – the positive things that have happened. Encourage your colleagues to do the same and aim to create a positive work environment where people are encouraged to shine. Then watch what it does to your team's self-esteem.

Building self-esteem takes time, but by making the smallest changes today you can make big strides to developing a more confident, more authentic you. And that will feel great. What’s more is that confidence is catching. Start with yourself and see how it rubs off on your colleagues.

Visit Mind's website for more tips on building self-esteem >