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Lavish Praise on Your Employees, But Be Specific

I thought this was pretty interesting.

Don’t Praise Employees…Praise Their Work or Abilities


  • “I don’t get it! If I tell an employee how well he did a certain work task, did I not just praise the employee?” No, what you did was praise the work done by the employee.
  • “What’s the difference?”
  • When you praise an employee and not the work you are communicating to the employee that you value him or her as a person, instead of saying that you value a particular skill he or she possesses or the amount of hard work it took to get a certain job done. For example, Debbie is a salesperson who just signed up a new customer for your company. Now you have a choice, you can either tell Debbie that she is a great and terrific person, or you can tell Debbie that you appreciate all the hard work she did in order to sign-up the new customer.
  • For the complete article go to employee-employee.com

The author points out some interesting distinctions between praising the employee and praising the work of the employee. It definitely makes s4ense and should go a long way to avoid confusion in the work place.

I do see where when you include and reinforce your employees they perform better. When Corra performs professional reference verifications for client job candidates, we always ask “What is the best way to work with that person.” Most often, we will hear, “Be inclusive and provide positive reinforcement.”

But what was it that Ronald Reagan is so well known for saying. Trust but verify. Hence the need to run background checks on your job candidates. A good preemployment screening program can tell you if you have the right person for the job. Once you do bring that person aboard, you can praise his work, or not, all day long.

Check them out before you hire.

By Gordon Basichis

Gordon Basichis is the Co-Founder of Corra Group, specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research. He has been a marketing and media executive and has worked in the entertainment industry, the financial, health care and technology sectors. He is the author of the best selling Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story, a non-fiction novel that helped define exotic sexuality in the late twentieth century. He is the author of the Constant Travellers and has recently completed a new book, The Guys Who Spied for China, dealing with Chinese Espionage in the United States. He has been a journalist for several newspapers and is a screenwriter and producer.