Yes, Please Praise, Thank You

Submitted by mauzenne on Sun, 06/20/2010 - 13:11.
in

This guidance recommends how to deliver both praise and feedback (though not together), and why they are both valuable – and completely different.

Lots of managers ask us about praise. Does positive feedback eliminate the need for praise? (No). What if I prefer to just give praise, and not positive feedback? (Sorry, doesn't work). Isn't praise just the opposite of negative feedback? (Definitely not).

What we think is that lots of us as managers just want to avoid being specific and direct. We understand why, and we're sympathetic. Work is hard, and generally most of us think we don't want to point out one small thing when there surely was ten good things we didn't see that day. We understand…and, we'll advocate for the directs. Managers are always telling us the same things, nearly at the same time: I really need more feedback from my boss, he owes it to me, I'm open to it, and he says he will. But, I'm not really comfortable giving feedback to MY team. I really need them, so I just give them lots of praise.

It's obvious that this managerial math doesn't really add up well…and that's why we're sharing how feedback and praise are both valuable, and how to give both.


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galesteven's picture
Submitted by galesteven on Sun, 08/15/2010 - 04:22.

A friend of mine posted this

A friend of mine posted this to her social network feed. Not that hugging in the workplace is sanctioned, but I think this shows the power of praise...

"Got the nicest over-the-top complimentary thank you email yesterday from the team at work for my contribution to a massive project that has taken up the last 2 months if not more. I, of course, burst into tears when I read it and the one who sent it to me came running and gave me a big bear hug. I was crying and we were both laughing at the same time. Soooooooooo nice after the last place I worked!"