Positive Feedback: The Power of Recognition in the Workplace

When was the last time you received positive feedback for a job well done? How did it make you feel?

You don’t need a PhD in human psychology to know that people respond well to sincere appreciation. It’s an emotion we’ve all experienced. We feel great when someone takes the time to thank us for our work.

That’s why the most influential and motivating leaders make a habit of delivering positive feedback. They know that it’s an integral part of elevating the performance of their team.

My first manager was a firm believer in the power of recognition and worked hard to make it a habit. He kept a personal scorecard to hold himself accountable for giving at least one person positive feedback every day.

Even with the knowledge of his personal recognition quota I still craved his positive feedback. It just goes to show that deep down we all have an innate desire to be appreciated. Leadership can have a profound effect on the motivation and morale of their team with nothing more than a few choice words.

Motivation Made Easy

Recognizing employees for a job well done isn’t a radical leadership insight. It’s an obvious way that we can increase the morale of our team and bolster engagement.

Employee engagement tracks closely with productivity. If we want to increase the performance of our team, then it only seems right that we should find ways to build engagement. More recognition is an easy first step.

And the best part is that it’s free! Recognition isn’t a scarce commodity. There’s always room in the budget for more.

People work for money but go the extra mile for recognition, praise and rewards.

Dale Carnegie

Building A Culture

Culture is built from the top down. It starts with leadership. If you’re quick to praise and slow to criticize, your actions will permeate through the ranks.

Your company’s culture can have a direct impact on the quality of your products or services.

Imagine a manufacturing company whose employees feel under appreciated and disgruntled. Do you think they’ll be as quick to fix a mistake on the assembly line?

It’s not hard to imagine scenarios where negativity in the workplace causes defects in our products or a bad experience for a customer.

On the flip side, a culture that thrives off positive reinforcement is more likely to go the extra mile to deliver. When leadership wins the workplace, they’re at an advantage to win the marketplace as well.

Positive Feedback 101

There are no hard and fast rules on how to give positive feedback. But there are ways in which we can be more effective.

“Praise in public, criticize in confidence” is an old adage attributed to the football legend Vince Lambardi. In general, public praise is a more powerful motivator than when given behind closed doors. Not only does positive feedback carry more weight when done in public, but your actions will demonstrate the behavior that you expect from others on your team.

Another good tactic for delivering positive feedback is to be as specific as possible. Consider the following two examples of positive feedback:

1. “Thank you for your help with that presentation. Those slides looked really good.”
2. “Thank you for your help with that presentation. I really appreciated the way you segmented the data for each category. It was clear, concise, and really helped drive the message home.”

The first example is appreciated. But the second is remembered.

Specific positive feedback sounds more sincere and gives the recipient something concrete to remember and build off of for the future.

Finally, because no two people are motivated in the same way, we should not necessarily recognize everybody in the same way. The best leaders adopt a variety of recognition tactics.

Off the cuff words of appreciation should become a daily habit whenever you see an opportunity to reinforce a positive behavior. But sometimes words just aren’t enough.

Here are a few more ways that you may consider showing your gratitude:

• Celebrate service anniversaries with a catered lunch or dessert
• Recognize an employee when they complete a training certification
• Keep thank you notes and birthday cards on hand to give out to staff members when appropriate

Making it a Habit

Recognizing your employees should become a daily habit. If it’s not already, consider the following two ways that may help you become better at recognizing your staff.

Like my first manager, you might consider setting a personal goal for yourself. Challenge yourself to one positive comment a week.

Another tactic that I’ve found helpful is to prime my mind for gratitude each morning. I do this by writing down one thing that I’m thankful for in my notebook. This small act at the start of my day helps me keep work in perspective and also reminds me to share gratitude with my staff and coworkers.

Positive feedback is a habit worth developing. Done consistently, it builds camaraderie, trust, and a culture that is motivated to deliver peak performance.

We all work hard for different reasons. Personal motivations are as complex as the individual. But if there’s one common thread, it’s that at the end of the day, we all just want to be feel appreciated.