The main benefit to having a champion is that they model behaviors that others can see and follow. Champions model authenticity and consistency, and connect recognition back to the impact of the work.
How Recognition Champions Influence Consistency, Safety Culture, and Day-to-Day Performance
Q&A with Cristen Dalessandro, Principal Researcher at | O.C. Tanner
Tell us about your expertise and role with O.C. Tanner.
My background is in sociology, and I primarily focus on how people experience connection, community and meaning in their environments. That sociological lens has really shaped the way I approach my work today as a Principal Researcher at O.C. Tanner, as I study how individuals navigate their experiences in the workplace. Recently, I’ve been focused on how factors like increasingly dispersed workforces and ongoing economic pressures influence the employee experience, and through our research reports, my team and I arm leaders with strategies that foster engagement and great work, among many other positive outcomes.
I am the Principal Researcher on our “State Of” report series, including this year’s State of Employee Recognition report that we released in March. I also support our annual Global Culture Reports, and am excited for a brand new study – what we’re calling the State of Generations at Work Report – that will launch this summer.
Ultimately, I’m incredibly passionate about understanding how employees want to feel seen and valued at work, and how factors like trust and recognition impact those feelings.
What is a recognition champion and what qualities do they possess?
We define recognition champions as employees or leaders who advocate for, promote, model, and support recognition in ways that strengthen workplace relationships. Employees with good communication skills who are approachable and whom others trust in the workplace make excellent champions.
When I think of a recognition champion, what comes to mind is someone who makes appreciation feel real and natural in the day-to-day flow of work. They’re the people within the organization who have a passion for the work or the culture, and that passion makes behaviors like recognition infectious. When recognition champions are present in the workplace, we found that employees are 3x more likely to give recognition regularly themselves. Because of their authenticity, champions make recognition feel safer and easier, and shift recognition from being an abstract program into a cultural mainstay.
The main benefit to having a champion is that they model behaviors that others can see and follow. Champions model authenticity and consistency, and connect recognition back to the impact of the work. They don’t just say “great job”, but they go a level deeper to help people understand why their work matters and who it helped.
They’re often trusted by their peers, and their positive energy and support is contagious to those around them. The idea of a recognition champion is that others start to model their behaviors, and eventually recognition becomes a regular part of how the team communicates. And the business impact is notable: champions result in a 4x increase in innovation and 3x increase in employees doing great work.
What impact do recognition champions have on manufacturing teams?
In an environment like manufacturing, where the work is oftentimes physically demanding, recognition champions can have an immense impact on the workforce. These teams may have fewer shared touchpoints and limited access to the online tools where recognition typically happens. Because of this, traditional recognition programs often do not reach them in a meaningful way, and less than half of these workers report receiving any recognition in a given month. Of those who do receive recognition, only 26% say it feels meaningful. Because recognition champions are trusted colleagues, champions on manufacturing teams are best equipped to understand their peers and can meet people where they are, calling out great work and making appreciation visible in ways that truly resonate.
Recognition helps employees feel like they’re a valuable part of the organization’s mission, and that inclusion has a real impact, especially in manufacturing environments. When organizations have inclusive teams, employees are more likely to value the organization’s policies and procedures. Thus, recognition can relate to enhanced safety and stronger operations internally–not to mention, improved employee wellbeing.
Why are recognition champions especially needed and often missing in manufacturing environments today?
Manufacturing teams face a unique set of challenges including shift work, distributed teams across lines or facilities, and a strong focus on output and efficiency. Employees' work is often conducted through rotating schedules, and ongoing pressures like supply chain uncertainty and production demands can take priority day-to-day. With that in mind, recognition can fall off the priority list and has the potential to feel forced or like something that only happens formally, if at all. There also tends to be decreased visibility across roles compared to office-based teams, where contributions are more easily seen and shared, so great work on the floor can potentially go unnoticed. That’s exactly why recognition champions are so important, and also why they’re often missing.
If recognition isn’t modeled consistently, employees won’t adopt that behavior. Even if the tools or programs are there, recognition can feel disconnected from the reality of the work. What’s missing isn’t intent, but it’s someone showing how to make recognition part of everyday interactions on the floor.
For manufacturing leaders looking to identify and build recognition champion programs within their workforce, where should they start?
The best place for leaders to start is by looking for the people who are already doing this in small ways. There are always employees who naturally call out others and support their teammates – those are your champions. From there, it’s less about creating a formal program and more about enabling and amplifying that behavior.
It’s important to give these employees simple ways to make recognition visible, whether that’s in huddles, on physical bulletin boards, or using digital tools like kiosks, and help them understand what meaningful recognition looks like. That means it must be specific, timely, and tied to impact. In a manufacturing environment, that could look like one coworker thanking another because they identified a safety issue on the floor that could have turned into a larger problem. This could happen during a morning huddle, for example. The employee in this scenario could highlight the impact and thoughtfulness of that action, and be specific in how their attention to detail probably saved other employees from potentially serious injuries.
Recognition must also come from every direction, not just from leaders or peers. Appreciation works best and becomes integrated in cultures when everyone participates.
Anything else you’d like to add?
At the end of the day, the individuals who are seen as recognition champions in your workforce are a reminder that culture spreads primarily through people, not programs. Especially in manufacturing, where the work is so tangible and team-based, those everyday moments of appreciation can make a real difference in how people experience their work. When recognition becomes part of how teams operate – how they communicate, celebrate wins, and support each other – you start to see stronger connection, better performance and more resilience over time.
Cristen Dalessandro is a principal researcher and sociologist at O.C. Tanner who specializes in the study of social inequalities as well as qualitative and quantitative research methods. As part of the O.C. Tanner Institute and the Research Center of Excellence, Cristen’s work focuses on the employee experience and workplace culture using a social science lens.
In addition to contributing to Institute research projects such as the State of Employee Recognition and annual Global Culture Report, Cristen is an award-winning researcher who has published over 30 articles in peer-reviewed journals and one book, Intimate Inequalities: Millennials’ Romantic Relationships in Contemporary Times. Cristen has a PhD from the University of Colorado Boulder and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Utah.
The content & opinions in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of ManufacturingTomorrow
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