Praise, or recognition, is a debt you owe to people who are making an effort and performing effectively. If you reinforce the actions that you want to see, you will likely get more of the same. If you don’t acknowledge them, they won’t know your degree of satisfaction. Naturally you praise what you admire the most, adding your reason for it. On occasion, give your people a little more praise than is their due. Mark Twain wrote, I can live for two months on a good compliment.”
More than one CEO admitted that he or she wasn’t skilled at giving recognition. “I personally don’t need it, so I’m not very good at giving it,” they profess. That’s no reason not to give it to those who deserve it.
The following steps will help you to appreciate and praise people.
1. Be honest and be specific
2. Be brief
3. “Note it” to others
4. Do it in a timely manner
5. Give kudos in a variety of ways
6. Back it up
A pay raise is one way a boss frequently thinks of as a way of providing recognition. But people need to be appreciated in different ways. One female executive told me, “I was ready to quit because I wasn’t receiving recognition. They just keep throwing more money at me. But that’s not what I work for alone.”
