In praise of praise
By: Tom Johnson
Tags: Management, Employee Engagement, Productivity, Leadership, Work

In praise of praise

Acknowledging your employee’s efforts is powerful, motivational, and inexpensive.

Photo courtesy of Kelly Sikkema on Usplash

In the workplace, offering praise to employees is powerful, motivational, and inexpensive.

It’s also grossly underutilized.

Studies show that only around 25 percent of employees are fully engaged with their work. The rest are somewhat or fully disengaged.

Often the problem isn’t the employee; it’s leadership. Employees routinely feel under-appreciated or worse: invisible.

One of the most frequent complaints I hear from coworkers is a lack of recognition from their managers.

“It’s like she has no idea how hard I’m working or what I’m working on,” a coworker told me.

“I drafted the report he requested,” another said. “I stayed late and did a great job. He didn’t even read it and never acknowledged my effort. Instead he asked for a one-sentence summary and then changed the subject.”

Nothing is more demotivating to employees than feeling their efforts aren’t appreciated or noticed. Employees who feel unrecognized are less happy, less productive, and more likely to leave the company. They also are more likely to feel resentment, a corrosive attitude that can spill over to their coworkers.

The good news is that acknowledging and expressing gratitude for your employees’ efforts is easy. It costs next to nothing. And it takes almost no time.

Praise is one of the most powerful things a leader can offer an employee. When delivered sincerely, praise can give people the drive and motivation they need to continue their work at a high level.

Simple gestures that show acknowledgment or appreciation don’t mean that constructive feedback isn’t warranted or should be withheld. They simply make it that much more likely that constructive criticism will be heard.

Of course, praise shouldn’t be dispensed randomly or when undeserved. Doing so would undermine managerial credibility and dilute the impact of the message. But neither should praise be held back for fear of giving too much. The issue is rarely too much praise, but too little.

In their book The Carrot Principle: How the Best Managers Use Recognition to Engage Their People, Retain Talent, and Accelerate Performance, leadership consultants Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton analyzed data from a 10-year study of more than 200,000 employees. They found that managers who consistently praise their employees see significantly lower employee turnover rates. Seventy-nine percent of employees who quit their jobs during the study cited a lack of appreciation as a key reason for leaving.

Gostick and Elton also found that frequent workplace praise helps employees achieve better results. Sixty-five percent of respondents cited “appreciation” as a primary motivator.

Advisory firm Towers Watson found in their Global Recognition Study that expressing praise and appreciation are among the most important factors in building trust between employees and management. More than 40 percent of respondents who said they felt unappreciated said they didn’t fully trust their managers. They also believed their managers didn’t trust them.

The study also found that managers who frequently recognized their employees saw increases in engagement of nearly 60 percent.

Small gestures a manager takes can go far toward motivating him to stay engaged and productive.

Recognition can take many forms: it can be monetary; it can be a formal performance-related program; it can be public recognition; or it can be simple words of praise or encouragement from a manager.

Organizations tend to spend a great deal of time setting up complicated recognition programs. What may instead be needed are well-trained managers who provide praise on a regular basis.

The fact is that it takes very little to offer praise and express gratitude. A thoughtful note and a $20 gift card might be sufficient to show an employee her efforts are noticed and appreciated. This small gesture may lead to deeper employee engagement, higher productivity, enhanced trust, and better results.

Four reasons to offer praise and express gratitude to your employees

It costs the company nothing. Unlike bonus programs, the cost of small tokens of gratitude and verbal praise is negligible. It requires little effort. Writing a quick note or offering well-timed verbal praise is nearly effortless and represents a minuscule investment of managerial time and energy. It makes employees feel good. Employees who feel good about their jobs are happier, more engaged, and more productive. It makes employees feel valued. Employees who feel valued are motivated to contribute to the organization.

Easy ideas for expressing verbal gratitude to employees

“Great job. You made a difference.” “I really appreciate the effort you’re putting in.” “I don’t know what we would do without you.” “Thanks for working late.” “Keep up the good work.” “I have been busy lately, but now I want you to know how much I value you you and your work.” “I’ve noticed how hard you’ve been working.” “Thank you. Your efforts mean a lot to the organization and to me personally.” “Thanks for being there when we needed you.” “You’ve really gone above and beyond.”

Easy Ideas for offering material gratitude