Wanna drop an atomic energy bomb on your team and completely blow one person out of their chair...at the same time??  It's easy.  Almost so easy that you might never think to do it intentionally.  Here it is:  Just before you tear into the prepared agenda for your staff meeting or team meeting, casually brag, off script, on one person for something that recently happened.  "Jeff, I saw you crushed your sales goal last month even though you were sick for a week...you just don't give up on a goal once you set it!"  THEN start the meeting.  Jeff will be FLOORED that he just got publicly recognized with no advance notice that was coming.  And not only will Jeff be blown away; but EVERYONE IN THE ROOM will receive a jolt of energy that the leader is paying attention to things and threw a big compliment out to Jeff.  

The catch is that it's informal, personal, almost like everyone else isn't in the room.  It says to Jeff, "I know who you are, what you do and that you are winning."  If you need a few ideas for these "casual public compliments", here are a few to consider:

• Telling the receptionist that people brag on them all the time because they are so friendly and helpful.
• Telling someone in accounting how clean their numbers always are and that you consider their information to be the gold standard.
• Telling the technology leader that you don't know how you ever made it without them because they keep everything so up to date and reliable.
• Telling your HR leader how impressed you are in the way they treat people who are going through difficulties.

*My only caution is not to regularly recognize people for working a bunch of extra hours.  Once in a while, when your IT guy worked all weekend to get the network back online, that's awesome.  But recognizing "weekend work" can accidentally send a message to the team that you want everyone to do it.  

But don't overthink it.  Try it tomorrow and you'll see how it lights up the room before you start the meeting that was scheduled.