He didn’t want praise. He wanted to know it mattered.

That’s what stuck with me after a conversation with a frustrated project lead. He’d led a cross-functional team through a brutal sprint. Late nights. High stakes. Solid delivery.

The recognition? A generic “thanks team” in Slack.

No mention of the effort. No callout for what went well.

So he backed off. Not emotionally. Tactically.

Still showed up. Still delivered. But stopped offering ideas.

Stopped mentoring juniors. Stopped going the extra mile.

This is the Recognition Gap. And in high-performing, fast-moving environments, it’s everywhere.

❗ The Silent Cost of Overlooking Effort

In tech and engineering teams especially, leaders often underestimate the impact of recognition. We tell ourselves:

“They’re professionals. They don’t need praise.”

“They’ll tell me if they’re unhappy.”

But most don’t.

They just stop giving you their best.

Here’s what recognition really does:

🔹 Motivation

Recognition fuels the desire to keep pushing. Noticing effort is how you refill a team’s emotional tank.

🔹 Trust

When people feel seen, they open up. When they don’t, they withhold.

🔹 Retention

Top talent rarely leaves because of salary. They leave because they’re not valued in ways that matter to them.

🛠️ 3 Practical Ways to Close the Gap

1. Ditch the vague praise. Go specific.

“Great job” means nothing.

Instead, say: “You caught that issue early and saved us time downstream. That’s the kind of thinking we value.”

2. Recognize effort, not just results.

Especially the invisible work: onboarding others, prepping for calls, solving conflicts quietly.

3. Build it into your rhythm.

Start 1:1s with “What’s something you’re proud of this week?”

End meetings by spotlighting wins, big or small.

Recognition doesn’t need to be loud. It just needs to be real, relevant, and repeated.

If your team feels unseen, they’ll disengage quietly. If they feel appreciated, they’ll outperform what you thought was possible.

Let’s close the gap.

Florin

P.S. Want to go deeper? I’m hosting a live session on The Recognition Gap on June 3rd.

You’ll walk away with practical tools and The Recognition Blueprint to start using immediately.

Register here >> Zoom Registration Link <<