Who needs praise?

Have you ever noticed that some managers are loathe to praise their employees? You’d think they had to pay for every compliment out of their own pocket! We’ve learned that praise, positive reinforcement, has proven to be one of the best ways to motivate stellar performance yet we still find managers hiding behind these classic excuses.
“I don’t have to praise them. Their pay is their praise.”
“So long as I’m not getting on their case they know they’re doing a good job.”
“I don’t have time to praise them!”
And perhaps the scariest of all, “Hey, nobody’s praising me!”
Talk about symptoms of a dysfunctional workplace!

There are some people who don’t like or are uncomfortable with praise. It’s important to recognize if you have someone like this on your team, but for the most part, people want praise the way teenagers want the iPhone5. People are feedback junkies and once they’ve gotten a taste of it, they want more. I knew someone who said he’d work harder for a thank you than a hundred dollar bill. Because he’d forget what he spent the hundred on but he’d remember the praise for years. Another worker described in detail how one time at a corporate event, an executive vice president clapped him on the shoulder, called him by name and thanked him for something he’d done on the job earlier that week. He described it so vividly, I asked when this had happened. He told me it was seven years ago. Time hadn’t diminished the impact of this reward. He still talked about the time Frankie T. had called him by name.

There are few more effective things managers can do to improve employees’ performance than to praise them. Managers worry that the staff will become complacent, but that’s just another excuse. As Steven Covey put it, “Catch them doing something right.” Recognizing your staff when they do something good and complimenting them on it is like making deposits in a managerial credibility bank. Then when (not if) you have to give constructive feedback, it will be surprisingly easier. Don’t worry that they’ll think you’re being hypocritical. So long as you are sincere when you give praise and honest when giving constructive, your staff will be dedicated to a manager who treats them with respect and is honestly looking out for their best interests.

5 thoughts on “Who needs praise?

  1. I thought that I was the only one who practiced “Catch them doing something right” out here. Too many managers either forget their roots as subordinates or never were (college kids) due to other pressing issues. I believe the bottom line is that we all need to feel appreciated. And, at the same time assisted when we stray. I have been cery fortunate to have had some of the greatest managers mold me into the leader I am today. Notice I said “Leader”? who also practiced catch them doing something right. My first manager was Mr. Marx LeCompte who owned Shavrs ice cream. He practiced this daily and when I became his assistant in the business he told me one more item I still practice today, ” a person will work smarter, faster, harder… when they want to work for you as opposed to when they HAVE to work for you”.

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