Keeping your employees motivated and feeling good about themselves and the work they do is important to the success of your small business. As a matter of fact, research has shown that it can be critical to your businesses success. I’m sure many of you have heard the term, “One rotten apple can spoil the basket.” Well, the same can apply to your employees.
Negativity can be infectious. One employee with low moral can quickly infect the rest along with your entire office environment and soon spread like wildfire. But the good news is that positive energy can become twice as infectious and spread three times faster. So just how much of an impact can properly issuing employee praise have on your small business? Take a look:
“A 2010 study published in Harvard Business Review found that at Best Buy, a 0.1 percent increase in employee engagement drove $100,000 in operating income to the bottom line of each store per year. The No. 1 driver of engagement is opportunity and well-being. The No. 1 driver of opportunity and well-being is recognition and appreciation. . .Praising people for what they do right seems to be more effective.”
Praise and recognition offers the receiver the opportunity to dream a little dream. In essence, they get to anticipate the positive consequences of what this may bring to them in the future. They start to think, “Maybe I’m on my way to a promotion?” Or, “Maybe I’ll get a raise?” Or “Maybe the big boss will finally recognize me.” Once this positive, forward thinking energy starts to emit itself into the immediate surroundings, things can begin to speed up quickly.
We’d like to hear your tips and suggestions for how to properly give employee praise. What has worked for you, your employees and your small business?
Check out this article over at Business On Main, “The Power of Praise and How to Do it Right. Then come back here and leave us your employee praise tip or suggestion. (But make sure that yours isn’t one already listed in the Business on Main article.)
Leave us your tip (and your Twitter username) by the end of day on March 8, 2012, in the comments section below and our team of moderators will pick the best one.
The winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to Amazon!
The owner of this site has an advertising relationship with Business on Main.
Often praise is best when the employer can recognize the effort put into the job and not always the results.
My praise: You have such a passion for your work and it shows in this project. The level of enthusiasm you have communicated with this presentation shows everyone what an asset you are to this company. Great job!
I worked for a man years ago that always thanked me each day as I walked out the door and it made me feel good about myself. I was then ready to return to work with a smile on my face because I was appreciated.
Now, I in turn, thank my employees everyday. I also mention one specific thing they did that they did well on that specific day. For example: “Thank you for your hard work on the Usage Report. I really love the way you color coordinated the user’s age groups, that was a great idea and it makes the report much easier to read. Good job!”
A great way to praise an employee is to include them on a project or a meeting that you know will advance their skill set in a way they have shared with you. It shows they are doing a good job, you trust them to take on something new, and you want to help them reach goals they have set for themselves.
With words being so easy to say, it’s hard to really convey a proper sense of appreciation for a person. Nice gestures that are tailored to what the person receiving the praise, usually get a better response in terms of future productivity and expectations.
Saying “Graet Job” or “You’re awesome” can come across as just empty words without meaning, but if coupled with a more specific praise i.e “Great Job, I really love the way you pay attention to detail and deadlines.” Can go a whole lot further in boosting employee moral.
twitter username: dsmy
As I am responsible for an event driven office in an industry with a fast burn out rate, I am always very conscious of the fact that my staff work very hard. When my bosses come to me thanking me for a job well done, I specifically ask them to extend the thank you to my staff member that was in charge. I thank staff with a little handwritten note card that has a coffee gift card enclosed. Lunches out for birthdays and also for Christmas. But the thank you my staff appreciate the most is the thanks for giving them lieu hours for the extra time spent on each individual event. Usually within my handwritten note I thank them and mention that they can take a day or half day off (depending on the event) and these days can be banked and tied in with vacation time. My goal as a successful manager is to ensure that my staff is happy and remains goal oriented. Also my door is always open so that they can come individually to get rid of the frustrations and negativity they may be experiencing. This allows me to keep a pulse on what is happening and take proactive measures to get rid of the “energy vampires” (negative nellies!). Even at the end of this type of meeting, I thank them for their input and solutions to making things better. We operate as a team and must make sure everyone is on the same page so meet weekly. The real key is actually remembering to sincerely thank staff for a job well done!
Receiving praise from co-workers is the most rewarding. Thus, in our weekly staff meetings, we always allow some time for anyone to thank or praise fellow colleagues (or even the boss) in front of the team. This makes people feel appreciated and motivates others to do the same.
Give the members of the team confidence. Give them the opportunity to advance in their careers.Always acknowledge above average performance.As a result, my experience is that staff turnover will be minimal.At the end of the day,sincerity will be deeply appreciated.
The article tangles praise and feedback. Praise makes the recipient feel good, but on closer examination, praise is not actionable.
Praise: Staci, great job on that article.
Feedback incorporates the notion of behavior in the article. It lets the recipient know specifically what they did well and what to do to do it well again in the future.
Feedback: “Staci, great article. When you explain how praise effects morale, I have something I can do today to make the office a better place to work.”
In that theme, here is my suggestion for the contest on praise/feedback.
Go to one of your employees offices, greet them by name and ask them to explain what they are working. When they are done, praise them saying, “Staci, thank you for explaining that to me. I understand how this fits with our business goals.”
For feedback, find something they accomplished or even the way they explained the accomplishment to you that you would like to see repeated in the future. Say, “Staci, when you take a complex problem like employee morale and give our readers one specific thing like praise, your articles have greater impact. Thank you.” Or, “Staci, when you clearly state our business relationship to other websites like Business on Main, you help maintain the values of ethics and transparency at BizSugar. Thank you.”
Find something you want repeated. It doesn’t need to be big. In fact, smaller is better for two reasons. It gets you away from worrying about if it is significant enough to mention. It also lets the individual know you pay attention to little details about how they do their job. Your attention is a form of praise. If you notice and don’t say anything, then how will they know you care? How will they know that a host of little things lead to success?
In summary, find one thing, anything, that you would like to see people repeat. Address the person by name. Tell them what they did and how it helped. Then thank them.
Thank you,
-Mitch
I would say to my employes: “How could we have made it this far without your input. You are difinetly an asset to this organization. Please know that without your help we could not have accomplished this goal. You are Awesome!!