Most of us have drunk the kool-aid that says praise is motivational. I agree. To a point.
I believe that SPECIFIC praise is motivational.
There’s a difference.
We’ve all experienced the manager who gives a general statement, “your team did a great job!” What about the work was great? Why did he/she think they did a great job? Of course, it is better to hear this kind of comment than none at all, but really…???!!! My guess is that the team will feel ok about this, but not have any concrete vision of what was intended. It then becomes a “nice to have” rather than motivational.
Consider the more specific praise statement, “your team did a great job–you met the target 5 days before the due date, the presentation that Sally and John did helped sell our customer on the product, and the fact that all of you worked overtime to make this happen in very greatly appreciated!”
…So now they know that the company values their overtime work, the high quality presentation, and the timely results. They have something to hang their hats on in picturing what success was valued, and can use it to energize themselves for future projects.
When you think about motivating your team or staff, use specifics, NOT generalities.
…and just watch what happens!
Yes! Could not agree more. Like many things, praising someone is a positive thing that, even with good intentions, can still be done badly. Like when as a kid I tried to cook spaghetti for Mother’s Day. For breakfast. Great intention. Bad execution. I humbly suggest that in addition to being specific, we also add being Selective and Sincere (I wrote a thing about it here: bit.ly/20TibE3) Overall, I think we never really appreciate the value of praise until we find ourselves in a situation where we’re starved for it. And suddenly we never look at it the same way again.