Comments on: The Business Case for Praise http://www.womenonbusiness.com/the-business-case-for-praise/ Leading Site for Business Women Around the World Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:43:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Derek Irvine, Globoforce http://www.womenonbusiness.com/the-business-case-for-praise/#comment-2172 Derek Irvine, Globoforce Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:56:57 +0000 http://www.womenonbusiness.com/?p=2097#comment-2172 Excellent insight. Frequent, targeted praise is critical. It's important to recognize contributions and not just achievements. Better yet, when recognizing those contributions, tell the employee how the effort reflected a company value in contribution to a strategic objective. Not only are you telling employees you appreciate what they're doing, but you're also giving them the bigger picture -- why their individual work matters. To many, that alone is an important element of meaningful, engaging work. It's also important to eliminate "But" praise -- "Excellent job on XYZ, but ABC needs improvement." Some call this sandwich praise. What employees hear is "you can always do better." Let praise stand on its own. Excellent insight. Frequent, targeted praise is critical. It’s important to recognize contributions and not just achievements. Better yet, when recognizing those contributions, tell the employee how the effort reflected a company value in contribution to a strategic objective. Not only are you telling employees you appreciate what they’re doing, but you’re also giving them the bigger picture — why their individual work matters. To many, that alone is an important element of meaningful, engaging work.

It’s also important to eliminate “But” praise — “Excellent job on XYZ, but ABC needs improvement.” Some call this sandwich praise. What employees hear is “you can always do better.” Let praise stand on its own.

]]> By: Linda C Smith http://www.womenonbusiness.com/the-business-case-for-praise/#comment-2165 Linda C Smith Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:02:00 +0000 http://www.womenonbusiness.com/?p=2097#comment-2165 Great post. This is a very often over-looked issue in human interaction. In my past experience in the non-profit sector, I found that one of the reasons people did volunteer work was for the praise and recognition they received for doing a good job. People like to be appreciated; and giving praise - sincere praise - makes people also feel as though their efforts are valued. What that means for the managers and supervisors of this world is that they must take the time to actually get to know the people they work with. Too often a supervisor will give a greater ratio of "constructive criticism" than true appreciation and praise. Great post. This is a very often over-looked issue in human interaction. In my past experience in the non-profit sector, I found that one of the reasons people did volunteer work was for the praise and recognition they received for doing a good job. People like to be appreciated; and giving praise – sincere praise – makes people also feel as though their efforts are valued. What that means for the managers and supervisors of this world is that they must take the time to actually get to know the people they work with. Too often a supervisor will give a greater ratio of “constructive criticism” than true appreciation and praise.

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