Empty Praise........... - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 05, 2017, 12:08:37 am
content: It sure seems like for your average person that if you don't give them enough daily praise they lose motivation.I have a feeling giving your average engineer too much empty praise has the opposite effect.Would you rather have the boss that is always giving out seemingly empty praise for everything, or the boss that only honestly tells you something was important and you did it well when it's true?

author: b_force
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 05, 2017, 12:23:28 am
content: I do strongly believe in positivity.But that doesn't (always) mean that people need to say the obvious.To me that's just formal politeness and does really the opposite (especially if I know people don't truly mean it)But there are billion other ways to create a positive open and constructive vibe.On the other side I also really do appreciate good constructive criticism.There is nothing worse than people promise something and just fully bail.(I have discovered that it's sometimes the standard in some cultures in the Pacific)Just be honest, but not an asshole.

author: Muttley Snickers
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 05, 2017, 01:17:45 am
content: I'm only in it for the accolades, after nearly thirty years of being self employed the money doesn't mean much anymore, it's the appreciation and thanks from customers that really count.

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 05, 2017, 02:35:51 am
content: Quote from: Smokey on October 05, 2017, 12:08:37 amI don't quite think they mean to say that the average person needs to be praised every day to stay motivated. More likely, it seems that people don't want to be treated as if they're expendable, or that their work gets taken for granted. Occasional praise for a good job done will probably be more than plenty if they don't feel exploited or unvalued.Emptry praise never works in the long run.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 05, 2017, 06:25:38 am
content: Praise needs to be presented in an appropriate manner. If not, it will soon be understood to be worthless and actually become counter-productive.Waffle to make a noise pisses me off no end. A genuine comment, thanks or other positive feedback makes the effort worthwhile.Even criticism - which is expressed in a manner that is aimed at improving an outcome is far better than inane optimism.

author: dmills
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 05, 2017, 08:31:30 am
content: We have a rather "Sales oriented" CEO, to the point that "Good Job!" said in an overly chipper tone of voice has become a sarcastically applied term for "You cocked up" around the engineering office.Somehow he never quite seems to get it.Regards, Dan.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 05, 2017, 08:50:12 am
content: "Sales" vs "Engineering" ..... can yougetanything more disparate?Makes communism and capitalism look like twin brothers.

author: medical-nerd
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 05, 2017, 11:00:45 am
content: HiyaFrom a personal perspective I don't expect or want praise for doing my job, I find the concept embarrassing. Although not in an engineering environment I have very high standards and if a trainee meets those then it is recognised amongst themselves and their peers that they have done very well. They take this forward in the next years as a badge of honor. I have mellowed over the last decade, but only because training in my area now has lower standards.Cheers

author: NivagSwerdna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 05, 2017, 11:01:39 am
content: Quote from: Smokey on October 05, 2017, 12:08:37 amI had a boss that used to give constant praise... he had been on some management course and always structured his meetings such that there was a point at which praise was inserted... you knew it was coming and it was somewhat comical... however he was an excellent project manager so it was generally laughed off.I've also had bosses that don't give praise only pain... collecting the achievements for themselves and making sure the failures get delegated downwards.Swings and roundabouts.

author: bson
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 05, 2017, 11:31:56 am
content: I always let people, including direct reports, know when I think they did something well. It doesn't matter if it's their job and exactly what they're paid to do. First of all, people need feedback or they will soon begin to wonder how their performance is perceived. It's psychologically important, because humans are social in nature. Third, it's a good way to connect with people you don't work with regularly; haven't talked to someone in a while and see they launched a product? Shoot them an email, hey saw your announcement... congrats! Fourth, only good can come out of it, while it costs absolutely nothing - something for nothing, what's not to like about that? And fifth, when they're confident that they're generally held to be performing well it's MUCH easier to address weaknesses, because it's understood up front the issue is an exception.Of course, if the person doing it lacks social skills or isn't tuned into what impression they're actually making and lacking in subtlety, then give them some slack and just see it for what it is: a general indication of approval of your performance. This is all around a good thing, even if clumsily delivered.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 05, 2017, 01:00:43 pm
content: Quote from: Smokey on October 05, 2017, 12:08:37 amPeople don’t want empty praise. What they want is a) feedback, and b) to feel appreciated/useful/needed/valued. These are two different things. They don’t need to be long, they don’t need to happen constantly, but they do need to happen. As Mr. Scram said, what you want to avoid is making your staff feel expendable — THAT will kill motivation faster than you can blink. A slower cause for lost motivation is being underchallenged and having too little responsibility. Some people don’t mind those at all, but for many people (I am definitely one) those things will kill my motivation very quickly.I’ve had bosses that made me feel unvalued, and I had a boss who was categorically incapable of giving actual criticism, even if asked: he was so afraid of hurting feelings that he wouldn’t give any negative feedback, not understanding that that saying “actually that’s not really what I wanted, going forward, I’d like for you to do this and that differently” is actually very helpful.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 05, 2017, 01:03:02 pm
content: Oh, one other thing that drove me nuts and made me feel worthless in the workplace: getting no replies. Like... if I went to the effort to write an email asking for X piece of info I need for the job, I didn’t do it for shits and giggles, I need the info. So getting no reply sends the message that the work isn’t important, and therefore that you can’t be that important, either, if it makes no difference whether your work gets done (or done well) or not.

author: b_force
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 05, 2017, 02:08:46 pm
content: I hate it when people don't reply at all.You can at least say thank you or something.I ones even had that with a client, had to make a whole technical report on top of the design I was delivering. After all these hours I send the report, and got absolutely nothing, no response, nada.Obviously they are not my client anymore, lol

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 05, 2017, 03:04:06 pm
content: Quote from: b_force on October 05, 2017, 02:08:46 pmDid you get paid? Really, that's the important thing.I would evaluate my relative worth to the department when raises came around. If the Net Effect On Payroll for raises was 3% and I got 5%, I felt pretty good.Net Effect On Payroll = an edict that the totality of raises can't raise the payroll line item in the budget by more than a certain percentage. Corporate didn't say who or how much, just the total. It was up to managers to manage.

author: b_force
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 05, 2017, 03:43:19 pm
content: Quote from: rstofer on October 05, 2017, 03:04:06 pmYes they did, but I don't agree that it's the important thing.Quote from: Muttley Snickers on October 05, 2017, 01:17:45 amThis is what is important.I want customers who are thankful and appreciate your work.My experience is that it WILL get the most amazing and beautiful projects by nice collaboration (for all parties)Otherwise go to the kid next door, but please don't complain if they deliver crap.

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 05, 2017, 05:03:52 pm
content: Quote from: rstofer on October 05, 2017, 03:04:06 pmGetting paid is important, but not the most important thing. If I'm miserable or not somehow motivated by the job itself, you can't pay me to stay. Life's too short to waste on things that aren't somehow interesting or valuable.

author: jpc
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 05, 2017, 05:22:57 pm
content: Quote from: Mr. Scram on October 05, 2017, 05:03:52 pmToo true. More than once I have given up better paying jobs for lesser paying ones because for all the money I was earning I was either bored out of my mind or I just didn't feel that what I was doing had any real value and gave me little to no pleasure while the lesser paying job promised an interesting challenge and/or better work environment.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 05, 2017, 11:35:28 pm
content: Good stuff guys.My take is that your typical engineer who did the work is sometimes the most capable person of evaluating the job they did, more so than the boss a lot of times. From that, they know the things that were really special and what was just average work. Getting too many, "wow that was a great email" and BS like that for average things gets annoying when you are working on big stuff. Especially when non technical people don't understand enough about why the big things were actually important and really deserve legit respect and recognition but they feel like they have to praise something.