Practice what you want to say
When it comes to disciplining employees, there is usually a structured process in place (or there should be). If you don’t do things a certain way, it can open an organization up to potential legal action. But if there is structure for disciplining employees, why is there no structured process for giving praise?
It’s quite simple: No organization is going to be sued having to defend a supervisor praising someone, no matter how much they stumbled over their words.
In order to maintain the importance and effect of recognizing an employee’s good work, you must practice how and what you want to say. After all, if acknowledging good work is truly important to you, would you not take some time to gather your thoughts and not screw it up?
Before you rush off to shower the masses with praise, you must determine who are you praising, why are you praising them, how are you going to do it and if it is consistent. Let’s say Jack mentions that Jill has been doing a great job working on project X. You give Jill her due praise, only later to find out that Sally has been the true workhorse. Now you have lavished Jill with unwarranted praise and anything you say to Sally is somewhat empty. You must have a plan in place to determine the who, why and how of your praise.
This may seem simple, but you also need to be cautious about over-acknowledging someone, thus minimizing praise as a whole. When it becomes too commonplace, it diminishes its value.
How will you give praise?
Many options are available to praise an employee. A simple handshake and conversation, a group setting in front of the team, or a more formal setting, e.g., award ceremony, all suffice. Now for the disclaimer—you must be consistent, or your praise will breed discontent.
Make sure you praise everyone equally according to their contribution. The last thing you need is for someone to be thinking, I did the same thing last week, where’s my notice?
Sometimes, we get so busy looking down the road that we forget to notice where we are. So take my advice and do what I have started to do on a regular and warranted basis—let your team know how much you value them and how lucky you are to have them, because your ability to make an impact or positive impression is frequently due, in part, to their hard work. Again, it’s free, and it can mean the world to people who want to know that their contributions mean something.
Before I close out this article, I have to hit on something. If, for whatever reason, you criticize someone in a public setting, you need to have the courage to apologize to them in the same public setting. How many times has this scenario occurred when a boss gets upset and lets an employee know about it in front of the team? Later, the boss realizes they were wrong and apologizes to the employee, but this time, it is in a private setting. We have all seen it, and many of us have done it. If you can chew someone out in front of an audience, you can eat crow in front of the same audience.
Closing thoughts
Be sincere with your praise. Know why you are praising, give the praise to those who deserve it, and be consistent about it. Do these small things and you will prove the research right: Respected leaders lead high-functioning teams with off-the-charts morale. That gets the job done better and with the pride of group ownership, and isn’t that ultimately the best for everyone?
