Submitted by NLewis on
in
Forums
Hi Everyone -
I am interested in your thoughts on the distinction between praise and positive feedback. I'm guessing this topic may have been covered elsewhere but I couldn't find it.
We're encouraged to provide positive feedback (rightly so) but told "praise doesn't work" as a mechanism for motivation. So what's the difference?
Here is an example from an email I just sent to a direct. She caught and questioned a pricing error on a $25 P.O. Turns out the vendor's database had the wrong pricing which could have caused problems on larger orders down the road.
"Thank you for being so careful with pricing <name>. It shows a high level of attention to detail and professionalism when you're willing to push back like this. Even though the dollar amount is small, it gives the vendor a chance to re-examine their pricing. Well done."
(The direct in question is a top performer)
Praise vs Positive Feedback
When talking about praise, it is often times not specific enough in regards to the behavior that we want them to do again in the future. Positive feedback, in the Manager Tools model, gives the exact behavior and then the impact of that behavior.
Here is a podcast that talks about Praise vs Positive Feedback
https://www.manager-tools.com/2010/06/yes-please-praise-thank-you
Thank you
Excellent! Thank you. I'll check it out. :)
"Good job! You really are doing excellent work." vs. "When you do X and it results in Y, it means Z."