Most Challenging Communication 6: Giving Praise or Affirmation
Although most leaders acknowledge the importance of giving praise for a job well done, just as many will tell you they don’t do it often enough. I’ve observed two reasons why leaders don’t give positive feedback.
1). They forget, or haven’t developed the habit of giving praise.
2). They don’t really know how to affirm others.
According to Eric Harvey, in 180 Ways to Walk the Recognition Talk, the key things to remember when giving praise are to be:
- Sincere
- Personal
- Specific
- Timely
- Proportional
A leader can use praise or affirmation to: recognize a task correctly accomplished or a job well done, affirm the individual’s value, acknowledge improved performance, support the person in pursuit of a goal, inform the follower they are on the right track, encourage the individual to keep moving forward and build the follower’s self esteem.
Taking time out, right now, to notice and point out what the follower has achieved can be very effective. Telling an individual you liked the way they handled a customer or solved a problem or finished a task are all examples of giving affirmation.
In-the- moment feedback has been shown to help improve performance. You may also choose to use monthly, quarterly or annual employee recognition or awards to affirm an individual’s value in front of their team. It’s helpful to remember that your outgoing behavioral types are more receptive to public praise while your reserved types prefer more personal and private recognition.
Perhaps you’ve been in a situation where you were lost on the road to a particular destination and in need of a sign to show you the right direction. The further you went, without seeing that sign, the more you became anxious or stressed out. But, as soon as you saw a sign that indicated you were on the right road, and your destination was just up ahead, you felt relief.
Affirmations give employees the confidence and relief of knowing they are moving in the right direction on any given task or project. On the other hand, even if you saw a sign that said “Yeah, dummy, you missed your exit, but can turn around up ahead and get back on the right road,” you would still have felt better about the situation because you would have known where you were and how to get to where you wanted to go.
Praise and affirmation are the signposts to personal development, workplace achievement and continual success!
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