Why Sharing Praise Sparks Engagement and Innovation

Aug 11, 2015 13:22


I have always been a voracious reader, and by extension I guess I also spend a lot of time thinking. Most times, I think about ways experiences can be improved. It’s a simple motto of looking at any situation and asking the question of “what can we do that would make this better?”

When I was first starting out my career and had taken “ownership” for the local area network of the company I was at, I thought it would be really cool if the users logging in were greeted with a friendly message and/ or perhaps a little word of wisdom.  I went searching for quotes everywhere I could (not as easy as it is today) and started to incorporate them within the network login scripts.

I was quite proud of this accomplishment - even though today’s technology makes it all child’s play. At any rate, I used to get a big kick out of seeing those messages appear and the users loved it as well.

One morning, a few weeks later, I came across a message that was sent to my boss from a new employee extolling his wisdom at such a young age for being able to present such pearls of wisdom to everyone every morning. In his reply, he simply thanked her, and made no mention of my contribution or the fact that it was all my doing.  I was crestfallen.

This was my first experience with someone else taking credit for something I had done and it took my breath away like a powerhouse punch to the gut.

Why didn’t my boss say anything? Why is it not inherent in people to direct praise to those who specifically earned it? Forget not being fair, that was just downright wrong! My young self could not believe what had happened.

I have often said that one of my reasons for wanting to become a leader was to ensure that anyone reporting to me would be treated the way *I* wanted to be treated and this was definitely one of those defining moments.

The quickest way to lose employee engagement is to hold back the kudos they deserve for good work, especially if the praise comes from a third party. That is partially why I always make sure my employees know exactly how I feel about the great work they do. The other reason is actually quite simple: because they deserve to know when they’ve made a positive impact in the lives of others! They should know that their work matters!

No one is more willing to invest time and effort into something than when they know they are appreciated.

As for me, it wasn’t too long after that experience that the login greeting scripts I had created were slowly dismantled. It just wasn’t worth my time and effort to keep doing something that wasn’t strictly necessary, especially considering all my other work. Network logins went back to being what they were because no one else had the time to maintain it and I filed the experience away. Eventually, I did polish it off and reinstitute it again. At a new company, of course.

(Disclaimer: Mike Aragona fondly remembers those old Bulletin Board Systems and CompuServe Forums, but can’t deny the better on-line world of today. His thoughts and opinions are his alone and do not reflect any person or company associated with him, alive or dead.)

Originally published at The New Floodgates of the Mind. You can comment here or there.

leadership, work life, employee engagement, management

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