There is an ancient maxim that says, “A bit of perfume always clings to the hand that gives roses.” When you make people feel great, you in turn are also elevated.

For instance you might respond to one of your folks with, “My compliments on the way you conducted the presentation this morning. I was surprised by the number of objections you encountered, but you handled the controversy remarkably well. You have an enviable ability to stay cool and help your prospects eventually reach agreement on the best solution.It is a pleasure to have you on my team.”

Employees don't feel appreciated

Year after year the most frequent employee complaint, regardless of job description or industry, is not being recognized for a job well done. Praise serves a crucial role in problem solving because when it’s given sincerely and often, it provides a reserve of respect that managers can draw on when it’s time to talk about a failure. In advance of those inevitable discussions, if management has praised liberally and built up a reservoir of goodwill, salespeople will assume their bosses have their best interest in mind as a result of the consistent recognition when things went well.

Oh yeah, about the title of this post. Just like deli meat is sandwiched between two slices of bread, most managers insert a little praise between two slices of criticism. It’s common for managers to focus on negatives when looking at their sales folks, mainly because they have never been trained to “catch them doing something right,” so they are apprehensive about going overboard when it comes to praise. They think it will be cheapened if overdone, which is obviously not sound thinking.

Here’s a thought; why not start praising employees for lack of problems, rather than just for spectacular accomplishments? Major accomplishments are naturally noticed, and honoring them is often routine. The desire your people have for more praise can’t be satisfied by celebrating only mammoth happenings. Praise your folks even more than you think you should, and then get goofy and double that amount of recognition! You will really like the results.

Mark Twain once said: “I can live for two months on
a good compliment and a little bread and water.”

In order to “reverse the curse” of low praise levels, here are three suggestions for management to consider doing differently:

Make a Praise Commitment – You have to really care about being pleasant and thoughtful and make up your mind to do it. That won’t be easy in industries with tough day-to-day cultures.

Change the Standards – Noticing a daily activity done correctly should be enough for you to offer a thoughtful word.

Put in Place Simple Cues – Establish reminders to trigger the verbalizing of these “attaboys.”

The informal recognitions are far more important than the formal ones, and you should consider giving ten times as many of them as formal ones. It’s as simple as writing personal notes and/or emails, stopping people face to face in the office and verbalizing appreciation, or giving a coffee shop gift card or a flower to someone who consistently does their job.

It’s as simple as telling people what they did and why it’s worth noting, ending with a “thank you.”

For example:

“Seymour, I can always count on you to be on time for the morning meetings and I want you to know how important that is to me. Thanks for being so consistent.”

“Olivia, the accuracy you always exhibit on the month-end close is really awesome. That is so important to the healthy operation of our branch. Thank you very much.”

“Nerlman, I want you to know that I notice you are the first one here each morning. It’s so pleasant to know that day after day you can be counted on to have the lights on and the coffee brewing when everyone gets here. Thanks for being an important member of our team.”

Awarding sales staff

Recognition is one of the secret weapons necessary to catapult you to the next level. It should be informal, spontaneous, and an important part of your corporate culture. Additionally, it is the best way to improve employee retention.

If you make praise a common part of your management style, when you do have a confrontation you will have built such a safe, trusting, and respectful relationship with your people, that the correction will be viewed more positively and accepted as in their best interest. It’s a great way to balance confrontations with confirmations!

Would you offer a comment below about your feelings and experiences with praise and recognition?

In Part II of this series, I’ll provide some ideas about inexpensively incentivizing your folks for all those times when you catch them doing something right.

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