The Art Of Giving Recognition — How To Praise Others
The three “must do’s” and the three “should do’s”
If you’ve ever worked in Corporate America, you’ve probably taken a class on giving recognition. Sometimes they call it praise, but it means the same thing. The facilitator starts the lesson by telling you about the importance of praising your colleagues.
“Everyone likes to be recognized.”
There is truth to that statement, though I would modify it to read like this.
“People like to be recognized when they feel they’ve earned it.”
Of course, in a corporate training program, we can’t add qualifiers like that. They start with the assumption that we all work hard and, therefore deserve praise on some pre-determined interval.
Are we entitled to recognition or must we earn it?
The modern approach is akin to giving everyone a trophy just for competing. Nobody feels bad for missing out, but it dampens the feel of victory. The value of the trophy plummets when everyone gets one.
I’ve participated in several of these training programs in the last twenty years. The basics can be explained in five minutes, but they typically inflate the course so that it extends to two hours.
