I have been reading a great book lately by Dale Carnegie 1st published in 1936. It has been updated for our current times. It is called 'How To Win Friends And Influence People In The Digital Age' I highly recommend it to anyone as we can apply the simple principles in our daily lives whether are work, home or with friends.
Today I would like to highlight a section that talks about giving praise where praise is due. So many of us in the business world feel like we live and work in a fight for survival. However, it does not have to be that way.
I have been reading a great book lately by Dale Carnegie 1st published in 1936. It has been updated for our current times. It is called 'How To Win Friends And Influence People In The Digital Age' I highly recommend it to anyone as we can apply the simple principles in our daily lives whether are work, home or with friends.
Today I would like to highlight a section that talks about giving praise where praise is due. So many of us in the business world feel like we live and work in a fight for survival. However, it does not have to be that way.
Below is from pages 208-210 of the aforementioned book.
Dr. Gerald Graham was curious about what managers could do to better motivate employees. So, he surveyed fifteen hundred employees, and the results were rather shocking:
- 58 percent reported that they seldom if ever received praise from their manager
- 76 percent reported that they seldom if ever received written thanks
- 81 percent reported that they seldom if ever received praise in public
And yet,
1. praise from a manager
2. written thanks, and
3. public praise
were three of the top five motivators among the surveyed employees.
These results were from 1982. Decades later, things haven't changed all that much. Employees who receive frequent praise are still more productive, and organizations in which employees receive frequent praise are universally more successful. It's one of the twelve indicators of success that Marcus Buckingham and Curt Koffman outline in First, Break All the Rules, indicators based on extensive Gallup Organisation research. Yet managers are still notoriously bad at delivering praise.
We all crave appreciation; we all desire to feel important. And when we have improved in some way or performed well, receiving praise sends a clear message that others have noticed and that it makes a difference. This is true at work, at home, at school, in our communities. One of the basic psychological tenets of human behaviour is that we persist in behaviours for which we are praised; those behaviours that are not positively recognized are likely to fall by the wayside.
The Centre for Management and Organization Effectiveness offers the following advice for praising those around you:
1. "Deliver praise from your heart." Be genuine and sincere.
2. "Deliver praise as soon as possible.", Don't wait for the next meeting, performance review, family meal, or church gathering. By then, the person's own joy at the success has dissipated, and you've lost an opportunity to amplify that joy.
3. "Make praise specific." A simple thank-you is not praise; it is politeness. To feel that their efforts are heading them down the path you want them to go, people need to know exactly what you valued in their effort.
4. "Praise people publicly." In this era of social technology, praising publicly gets easier every day, so there is no real excuse not to do it. Today you don’t have to wait for the next quarterly meeting to recognise a job well done.
We should strive to praise as often as possible. Most of us don’t have to struggle to find opportunities to do so: we simply have to take advantage of the opportunities that exist every day.
Interested in buying a copy?
click the image on the left to find out more
