Recognition, recognition, recognition
As dean of the School of Accountancy and Management of Centro Escolar University, I have been signing certificates of recognition for students, faculty and staff to be awarded on the school’s Recognition Day. Their contributions to the school – as student organization presidents and officers, class officers, model students, participants in key student activities, model advisers, outstanding teachers, dean listers, etc – are being recognized. To some it would seem that almost everyone is being singled out but it is important that each contribution no matter how little to others should be highlighted because not only is it significant to that individual but it is an accepted axiom that big achievements come from the sum of small accomplishments. When these students graduate and join the world of business, it is important that they bring with them the Value of Caring for others – one of the core values of Centro Escolar University.
Each one of us is a product not just of our individual efforts but of the collective care and concern of others who built and nurtured us. Our parents sacrificed to give us a good education and led exemplary lives for us to emulate – their industry, their striving for excellence and their values of integrity and honesty. Our friends provided us a supportive and guiding network infusing us with the realization that the right friends can lead us to follow the straight and narrow path while the wrong friends can lead us astray. Our teachers inspired us with the nobility of their profession; created an environment where we learned knowledge, skills and values; and planted in us the love for lifelong learning, another core value of Centro Escolar University. As the end of classes draws near, it may also be time for students to think of how they can recognize them for what they owe so much to.
For those of us already in the corporate world, many occasions provide us an opportunity to thank them and recognize their positive influence on us. During the birthday of one of our faculty members, it was heartwarming to see an alumnus paying a visit to the school for the sole purpose of greeting her as a gesture of thanks for how she had affected his life for the better. It reminded me how the former UP English Honors class of Professor Concepcion Dadufalza would troop to her cottage in the Diliman campus to wish her the best on her birthday and how I used to bring my kids with me as we paid her a Christmas visit bringing her favorite bottle of lemon candies. Or the habit during the Christmas season to visit former teachers or bosses (or their spouses if they have gone ahead to a new life) with simple gifts of Tita Paring’s suman and more important, time to update them of career and family developments and finding out how they were doing.
While organizations and businesses have established a system of recognition, usually after a performance evaluation period and during a scheduled affair, to announce promotions, give plaques or gifts to outstanding performers and a valuable gift to retirees, I still believe that immediate recognition is a good supplement. Right after an employee has done a good deed or made a significant contribution to the company, a simple note of recognition makes a bigger impact than a still distant recognition given together with others. Even a heartfelt “thank you” to a waiter adds value to the tip that you have left on the table. Immediate recognition is a lesson all of us will benefit from.
In the end a fitting recognition which the honoree may never know is for us to do to others what our parents, our teachers, our friends, our bosses, our co-workers have done for us. As we continue their caring and concern so too will the beneficiaries of our actions.
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