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Tip 92 – Use Examples to Encourage
It's well-established that good leaders praise their employees, but there are different ways to go about it. As a manager, one thing you can do is to point out to the whole team how well an employee does a certain task. Then others can then follow that best practices example.
Mark Hendricks once was in charge of an integrated telemarketing crew and he would only comment on performance when someone was doing an excellent job...
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Posted by Keith Ferrazzi on October 16, 2007 | Permalink
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Comments
I agree, Keith. The pursuit of excellence in performance at work should be an explicitly-stated Value, incorporated into the company's Vision & Mission. In this manner, practicing excellence becomes inherent in the company's BRAND, as an extension of the employee's BRAND.
Add the mantra: "We Can Do Better" and the trajectory of excellence soars!
Posted by: Jim Coe | Oct 16, 2007 1:52:48 PM
Once again, I appreciate the fact that I am doing the right thing. As the advisor of two student produced publications in Greater Latrobe School District, I model some of the practices of Keith Ferrazzi.
Sometimes I wonder if students think I am being cliche, while I do brag with genuine pride. Inevitably, even teen agers, want to do the right thing worthy of praise.
I also keep this concept in mind as I empower select students with the opportunity to organize and plan the Latrobe Rockdown, a community benefit event. With the newspaper and magazine sponsoring the lock-in that promotes drug and alcohol free activity while embracing music and technology, they raise money that supports the self-sufficient publishing "business." Half of the money is donated to comfort cancer patients of Arnold Palmer Pavilion, a member of Excela Health.
Even though I witness the power of positive reinforcement, I sometimes catch myself from pointing out mistakes with the intention of improvement. The extrinsic rewards from positive recognition undoubetly is the way to role model success.
Posted by: Renee (Rusbosin) Stallings | Oct 16, 2007 1:57:12 PM
Providing feedback for excellent performance fits, in a larger sense, into the Positive Leadership Model that Mike Magee, host of Health Politics at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, champions in his book Positive Leadership. He says postive leaders have principles that direct them to be:
- Nice
- Value-Driven
- Constructive
- Personal
- Respectful
- Complimentary
- Inclusive
This kind of approach seeks to expand knowledge, sets the right tone, opens team members to ideas and motivates because it plays to positive characteristics in all of us.
Posted by: Brad Olson | Oct 16, 2007 1:57:14 PM
I have never heard anyone complain about receiving too much praise. Mark Hendricks is a walking, living, breathing top performing manager!
Posted by: Amy Hedin | Oct 16, 2007 1:57:19 PM
I have come to the conclusion in my work as a career coach that two principles I want to convey to people I coach are: 1. People want to be taken seriously. 2. People want to be listened to.
The rest of what I offer is based on these ideas. Sure, I give people lots of resources to use, but a lot boils down to those two ideas.
Marilyn J. Tellez, M.A.
Certified Career & Job Transition Coach
E-mail: doitnow@nwinfo.net
Posted by: Marilyn J. Tellez, M.A | Oct 16, 2007 2:08:15 PM
I have heard it said many times that a good leaser should praise in public and criticize in private.
Posted by: Brandon Hansen | Oct 16, 2007 2:10:49 PM
We are all in service of someone else in some way, shape or form, regardless of the industry we call home. Sometimes our positions allow us to connect personally and other times we add benefit by extension; we do however in all cases try to make a positive addition to the situation for which we came.
Well, if that be true, then we too need to be fed in recognition of the efforts and resources we put forth.
Most people will do more for recognition than they will for money in almost every situation. Once basic needs are met in regards to income and personal/family obligations, we start to identify levels of achievement and recognition as they take on many forms. Some are financially incentive whilst others play to a more intrinsic value or intellectual property that can carry as much weight or more than other sibling monetary benefits.
Most just want to know that their efforts matter and have an impact on the bottom line objective; many times though on our way to the bottom line we forget the journey itself and miss opportunities that arise along the way to strengthen the relationships with our fellow employees and strategic partners.
We are in constant edification with our children from an early age from the home stage as well as from the classroom, however, the older we get the less we remember to keep up the well placed and well earned pats on the back.
An environment of appreciation be it in the classroom with our kids or in the corporate boardroom, will most always strengthen an err of creativity and intuition; both help secure future endeavors and growth and loyalty.
Posted by: Allan Wich | Oct 16, 2007 2:33:12 PM
Your post have make me something a idea.Thank a lot.
Posted by: David | Oct 17, 2007 5:11:59 AM
I believe on everything that recognition is very important. I would like to hear from the group on how do you best recognize someone with balance. Sometimes, it gets too much into the head of the person and starts feeling a superstar
Posted by: da | Oct 17, 2007 5:54:09 AM
Renee Stallings,
While public recognition and positive re-enforcement is always the better way to ecourage your students to better acheivements, don't overlook the need to offer contructive criticism and discipline.
The key to 'pointing out mistakes' is generally to do it in private. Then offer suggestions on ways the person can improve his/her performance.
If you see the mistake being done by more than one person, ask one of your students that makes the mistake if he/she would mind presenting it before the rest of the group so that you can use it as a learning device. There are some people who don't mind being used as a learning tool and it will save you some time not having to correct multiple people individually.
Posted by: Kevin Cousins | Oct 18, 2007 7:15:38 AM
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Posted by: ma602zda | Oct 18, 2007 7:42:58 PM
B.F. Skinner showed along time ago that the best way to reinforce the behavior you wanted was through POSITIVE reinforcement. These examples listed above just show that it works as well for humans as it did for rats and pidgeons.
Posted by: Michael Haberman | Oct 18, 2007 9:03:57 PM
I'm not sure that I agree with commenting only when someone does an excellent job. I agree that you don't want to encourage mediocrity, but sometimes people need to be encouraged along the way, not just at the finish line. I guess it depends on how you define "excellence" For example, can someone do an excellent job and come short of the goal? (what if the goal was unrealistic). Can a finished product be excellent (meets or exceeds standards), and effort to produce it be sub-par?
Posted by: Steve C Wilson | Oct 23, 2007 1:00:42 AM
I am a big fan of "Praise in Public, Criticize in Private" (Vince Lombardi and a slew of others now). Whether we call it criticizing, coaching or anything else, I see great results from building people up in front of their peers and offering constructive criticism in a room wh2ere no one is shamed.
This offers the balance that several have asked for above and provides a very real context for the receiver (your employee). That way, they know that they do not have to be worried about making mistakes that will be highlighted to everyone, yet it feeds their basic Maslowian needs (I may have made that word up).
Posted by: Brandon | Nov 9, 2007 4:25:42 PM
Rewarding desired behavior in a way that is perceived as rewarding by the recipient will result in more of that behavior happening. This is a basic and well proven fact of behavioral science (I use it on my dog all the time). Attention can be rewarding. It usually is. What's also very powerful is when you take the time to reward in a way that is very personal to the person you're rewarding. For example, my boss once took me aside and thanked me for some extra performance, and showed me that he had made a modest donation in my name to a nonprofit I'm passionately involved with (Canine Companions for Independence). That fact that he knew me well enough to know that I would be moved by this gesture spoke volumes.
You notice this wasn't done in front of the whole group. Sometimes rewarding privately is more authentic in that you're not coming across as trying to whip the rest of the team into shape, if you know what I mean. Group recognition is important and has its place, but this kind of recognition is very powerful on a 1-1 level.
Posted by: Diane B | Feb 25, 2008 2:11:19 PM
