Motivate the team and not the individual.

Another reader question:

“I am a group manager and wanted to promote teamwork and improve how we as a group work together to better execute projects.  I implemented a year-end Most Valuable Team Player award this year.  I asked each one of my staff to vote, anonymously, for the best team player of the group with an incentive gift from my own pocket.  I was upset when the votes were revealed a few weeks ago because half of them got together and voted for the worst person of the group. Any advice here?”  

Yes, learn from it, improve upon it and try something again.  You attempted something new and different, which places you in an elite group of people willing to try new things. 

Perhaps the possibility exists that they were sincere about their selection, but let's assume you are correct and they were messing with you and selected the worst person because they were unhappy. 

Recognition, as in best team player, can often cause problems within companies.  You are trying to promote “team work” yet you were recognizing only one player on the team.  It might work better if you recognize the whole team. 

And you don’t need to do it necessarily with incentives or gifts, although it never hurts.  Words and praise from the leader most often always outperform cash or rewards.  I’ve had employees show me an email or letter I sent them 15 years earlier complimenting them for something they did.    That is powerful beyond cash.

Much like you I’ve had trouble when I’ve only recognized one person or when I’ve started naming a few names for recognition in front of the company.  It is a slippery slope and you are invariably going to leave off names of people who contributed in some small way to the success of the team, yet you simply forgot to mention them or were unaware that most people in the company helped out in some small way, yet you said nothing. 

I’ve seen teams of people work hard for weeks on a final project and then someone not on the team drove out to the airport after normal hours and commandeered the Federal Express airplane on the runway that got the presentation to the client on time and won the day.  And leaders are not always aware of those kinds of contributions yet they are common occurrences in most organizations.   In a great company most efforts are loaded with examples of everyone contributing in some small way.  It is often best to recognize the team effort and save individual praise for a one-on-one moment.