An employee checks an AI-generated recommendation, catches an error and shows colleagues how to avoid it. Another tests a new workflow, documents what failed and helps the team improve the next attempt. These are the contributions that make technology useful. Whether employees keep making them depends partly on what their organization notices and supports.

For HR and IT leaders, that builds a shared responsibility. Deploying tools and providing training establish the conditions for adoption. But employees also need clear, repeated evidence that learning, collaboration and sound judgment matter in daily work. Recognition can provide that evidence when it identifies a specific contribution and explains why it matters.

Research from Achievers, a Brandon Hall Group™ Gold Eminence Partner, brings this responsibility into focus. The Achievers Workforce Institute’s (AWI) 2026 State of Recognition Report examines the gap between organizational ambitions and employees’ readiness for change. Its findings support a practical argument: recognition belongs in the design of transformation, with clear ownership and consistent delivery throughout implementation.

The Readiness Gap Starts with Everyday Uncertainty

AWI’s most recent State of Recognition Report, based on a January 2026 survey of 3,000 global employees, finds that only 19% feel confident using new AI tools at work. Just 18% feel supported in adapting to AI and technology changes. Only 18% feel informed when changes affect their job or company.

Those findings should concern anyone responsible for adoption. An employee may complete training and still hesitate to use a tool on a consequential assignment. A team may understand the organization’s AI goals without knowing whether it should favor speed, accuracy or experimentation when those priorities compete.

Recognition helps leaders make those expectations concrete. Recognizing someone who verifies an output communicates that accuracy deserves attention. Recognizing a colleague who shares a failed experiment shows that useful learning has value. The explanation attached to the recognition gives others a practical example they can apply.

This does not relieve leaders of the responsibility to communicate decisions, provide resources or address concerns about changing roles. Instead, recognition strengthens those efforts by showing how stated priorities apply to work employees can see.

Recognize the Behaviors that Adoption Requires

A transformation plan should identify the employee behaviors necessary to achieve its goals. For an AI initiative, these might include validating information, sharing techniques spanning departments, redesigning a handoff or requesting assistance when an output appears unreliable. Leaders can then build recognition around those observable actions.

Consider a customer service team introducing an AI assistant. If recognition regularly goes to the people handling the most cases, employees may conclude that volume takes precedence over careful review. Recognizing an employee who spots a misleading answer and improves the team’s guidance communicates a more complete definition of success.

The same principle applies to learning. Someone who helps colleagues understand a new process contributes to adoption even when that work reduces their own short-term output. Making that contribution visible helps employees understand that supporting others is part of the job.

The 2026 State of Recognition Report  finds that employees want recognition for learning new skills as AI is increasingly integrated into work. It also identifies creativity, collaboration and adaptability among contributions that deserve acknowledgment. These choices give leaders a starting point for defining recognition practices that support the work their transformation requires.

Brandon Hall Group analysis of HCM Excellence Award®-winning benefits, wellness and well-being programs supporting context: 44% included hands-on labs or practical training, 37% included one-on-one mentoring and 30% included expert coaching. They reinforce the importance of pairing opportunities to practice with personal guidance, giving leaders specific learning contributions to recognize as employees adopt new ways of working.

Make Recognition Frequent Enough to Guide Work

Timing determines whether recognition can influence the next decision. A specific acknowledgment shortly after an employee contributes gives that person immediate feedback. It also gives colleagues a current example of the behavior leaders want repeated.

The 2026 State of Recognition Report also finds that only 17% of employees globally receive meaningful recognition on a weekly basis. Another 35% receive it only a few times a year. That leaves substantial periods during which employees may be adjusting to new expectations without clear reinforcement.

Managers have a central role in filling that gap. Recognition must become part of project discussions, coaching and regular team interactions. A manager can name the contribution, describe its effect and connect it to the team’s priorities in a handful of sentences. The value comes from attention and specificity.

For example, acknowledging that an employee documented an AI error so others could prevent it links individual effort to collective improvement. It makes the contribution understandable without requiring a formal award or waiting until the project ends. Repeating that practice builds a clearer picture of what effective adoption looks like.

Use Recognition to Strengthen Connection During Change

Employees also need to know that their contribution is valued to the people around them. In the AWI report, only 26% report a strong feeling of belonging. That is a weak foundation for initiatives that ask people to share unfinished ideas, question established processes and depend on colleagues with different expertise.

Recognition can make those working relationships more visible. Peer acknowledgment identifies who helped solve a problem, explained an unfamiliar concept or made time for a difficult transition. It gives managers a view of contributions they may not observe directly, particularly when work crosses functional boundaries.

The practical implication for leaders is to include the people who make change possible behind the scenes. Project launches frequently spotlight sponsors and technical specialists. Recognition must also reach the employees testing processes, supporting peers and sustaining service while new systems take shape. Their experience influences whether change becomes sustainable.

Preserve the Human Meaning of Appreciation

Using AI to support recognition creates a question that leaders need to answer carefully: will employees still believe someone noticed their work?

The 2026 State of Recognition Report  finds that 67% trust recognition more when it comes directly from a person while only 14% feel comfortable receiving recognition written or suggested by AI. Those findings make authenticity a design requirement for any organization introducing AI assistance into appreciation.

AI can help someone express a contribution more clearly or prompt a manager to recognize work that deserves attention. The person giving recognition must still decide what mattered, verify the details and form the final message. A polished message has limited value if the recipient cannot connect it to a real interaction or contribution.

This is relevant to the human-centered approach behind Achievers Intelligence. Brandon Hall Group’s Bellwether report, Rewards and Recognition, The Achievers Edition, describes AI-supported writing guidance and analysis of recognition behaviors. The leadership test for these capabilities is whether they improve insight and engagement while preserving personal judgment and credibility.

Give HR and IT a Shared Implementation Agenda

Treating recognition as part of change management requires decisions about access, accountability and measurement. HR can define the behaviors to reinforce and equip managers to recognize them. IT can help make participation accessible within employees’ working environments and establish appropriate controls for data and integrations.

Managers also need time to discuss what they observe. A brief review during an existing project meeting can reveal whether recognition is helping employees understand new expectations. It can also surface conflicting signals before those signals become established habits across the team.

HR and IT should examine who can participate easily and who faces friction. Employees working different shifts, using different devices or spending little time at a desk need workable ways to give and receive recognition. Uneven access can leave important contributions unseen and distort leaders’ understanding of adoption.

Measurement should move beyond the number of messages sent. Leaders can examine whether recognition reaches different teams, whether managers participate consistently and whether messages describe the behaviors the initiative needs. These patterns can be considered alongside employee feedback, learning progress and operational results.

Recognition data needs interpretation. Low activity may indicate limited access or inconsistent management attention. High activity may reflect an established habit without demonstrating better performance. Used thoughtfully, the information helps leaders ask better questions and investigate where support is missing.

Build Reinforcement into the Transformation Plan

Brandon Hall Group’s Bellwether report describes a progression from reactive recognition practices to integrated systems aligned with business priorities. For leaders managing AI adoption, that progression offers a useful direction: make recognition a repeatable part of how work is guided, reviewed and improved.

• Start with one initiative. Define a small set of identifiable behaviors, discuss them with managers and employees, and create straightforward opportunities to acknowledge them. Review which contributions receive attention and which remain invisible. Use that feedback to adjust the approach as work changes.
• Keep the discussion connected to employees’ experience. Ask whether recognition helps them understand expectations, whether it seems fair and whether managers notice the effort involved in learning. Their answers can reveal problems that participation totals miss and help leaders improve the quality of reinforcement over time.
• The aim is sustained practice across the organization. Employees need reasons to keep learning after training ends, to share what they discover and to exercise judgment when a tool produces an uncertain answer. Meaningful recognition helps leaders show that these contributions are valued throughout the transition.

For HR and IT leaders, recognition is an ongoing responsibility throughout AI adoption. The employee who catches an error or helps a colleague learn is showing the organization how to make its technology investment work. Recognizing that contribution promptly and specifically gives people a reason to repeat it. Over time, those repeated decisions determine how much of the organization’s AI ambition becomes everyday practice.