How to Praise Your Employees

Scenario: "Dude, you are the frickin' smartest frickin' person to walk the frickin' Earth. Wow! You-so-so-A+-intelligent! A+! Booyah!" Let's say Anuj just developed the most super-sexy-fabulous project report for your client, that's now raking in loads of cash. Now if you want to train an all-world superstar-in-the-making, how would you praise Anuj? <ul> <li>a) "You are the most amazing person in the world!"</li> <li>b) "Your project report was super awesome. I admire your extremely hard work and perseverance!"</li> </ul> Untrained managers would go: A! But since you're a super-dope manager, you'd guess the answer is B. And, you'd be right. The rule of thumb to tack onto your managerial wall: <ol> <li> Praise how your people work -- not their intelligence.</li> <li> You'll build superstars who continually rock the world with you.</li> </ol> <h2>"What's wrong with praising intelligence?"</h2> You know those sayings: <ul> <li>"You're super smart!"</li> <li>"You are the best designer, ever!"</li> <li>"I could never hire anybody who can paint like you can!"</li> <li>"You're crazy-sexy-awesome!"</li> </ul> The problem: You build perfectionists who lack motivation, abandon perseverance, avoid risks, and drain performance. According to Stanford Psychologist Carol Dweck (courtesy of GK): <blockquote>Labels, even though positive, can be harmful. They may instill a fixed mind-set and all the baggage that goes with it, from performance anxiety to a tendency to give up quickly. Well-meaning words can sap children's motivation and enjoyment of learning and undermine their performance.</blockquote> <h2>To Positively Praise Your People...</h2> Two simple rules: <ol> <li> Don't praise them (directly).</li> <li> Praise their work.</li> </ol> That is: <ul> <li>Instead of: "You're a great designer! Yay!" Go: "You designed a really fabulous kitchen decor." </li> </ul> <ul> <li>Instead of: "You're so smart! Booyah!" Go: "You were amazingly dedicated to your client."</li> </ul> <ul> <li>Instead of: "You're like an eagle: You just soar, and soar, and soar! Yay for you. Oh-tay!" Go: "I love how you interact with our customers."</li> </ul> When you find your employees doing something well, instead of praising their intelligence -- as tempting as that might be -- tell your fabulous people: <h2>"Yo! Yo work = super-fab!"</h2>   2007-03-14T21:31:21-07:00 true 501 how-to-praise-your-employees

2009-11-06T21:45:45-08:00