AS you said, Colby, this program could be abused, but to what end?  

When I supervised a large team, I made it a point to hand write what I called "Atta boy" or "Atta girl" cards.  They were business card sized and I wrote a brief note whenever someone had a noticeable success.  Mine weren't tied to a prize drawing, but I can tell you they worked.  I saw my cards pinned  to bulletin boards in offices, taped to computer monitors or displayed somewhere else.  They did not get thrown away.  Because we spend so much time complaining about the things we don't like, and so very little praising the things that we want to see more of.

As for annual evaluations, they only discourage employees.  They are limited by corporate directive and rarely actually capture the employee's actions accurately.

Imagine a world were everyone (supervisor, peers and even customers) had "Atta boy" and "Atta girl" cards that were passed out whenever we caught someone doing right.  I think I would like to live in that world.  

Bottom line is this is nothing like a participation trophy.  It is simply looking for and encouraging good, rather than complaining about the bad.

BTW, Colby "Atta Girl" for all the improvements you have made to our pools and Rec. Dept.

Keep up the great work