An oft overlooked aspect of praise…

Dealing with poor performers

One of life’s great joys is receiving praise from others.  Praise not only affirms what we’re doing, it gives us a sense of being valuable.  Praise motivates us to higher levels of performance.

What many leaders don’t realize is that praise can be a just as powerful when dealing with poor performers.  Withholding praise sends the message that we’re not happy with their performance, without being critical or denigrating.  The desire for praise can be exactly the motivation a poor performer needs.

It’s counter-intuitive, but praise is equally powerful when offered or withheld.

If you have examples of how praise or withholding it benefited you and your team, please post a comment sharing your experience with us.  Is there a topic you’d like addressed?  If so, email me at dale@furtwengler.com.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 6:10 am and is filed under Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.