| The Power of Positive Feedback |
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I’ve been thinking about the seeming disparity of the use of praise with employees and colleagues and dogs. It seems to me that we more easily give praise to dogs who behave well than to employees or colleagues who perform or produce well. Follow me on this.
Training dogs is currently the subject of a couple of reality shows. We like watching a masterful trainer help a dog and its family successfully learn how to get along. One of the powerful tools such trainers use is positive reinforcement. When the dog does something right—sits, stays, comes—it receives praise. The praise is delivered in a pleasant, warm voice.
The attitude of some managers, supervisors, and peers I’ve encountered is that praise is unnecessary when the other person is “simply doing her job.” Perhaps they subscribe to the theory that “you won’t hear from unless there’s a problem.”
My philosophy is that we humans function better when we know that what we’re doing is the right thing and that we’re doing it with a measure of success. If we focus only on what people are doing wrong, they get discouraged and oftentimes do worse rather than do better.
When we rely more on affirmation that is specific to the person, the task, and value to you and the organization, we usually:
- Get better results
- Create a positive environment or culture.
You won’t need treats to drop in employees’ mouths when they do something right, but a handshake would be appropriate.
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