Showing Appreciation for Great Work

Do you remember in your career when you felt exceptionally proud of a work project or effort?  Your may have put in extra hours, come up with a great idea, or delivered a high quality product ahead of schedule. Remember when you were last thanked or congratulated for your efforts?  If you felt the congratulations were sincere, it probably encouraged you in your next effort.

As a manager, when was the last time that you praised someone working for you for doing great work?  Has anyone done really great work for you lately? 
Many managers fall into the trap of accepting great work that is done without a comment and get in the habit only speaking up when somebody makes a mistake.  This approach encourages cautious behavior instead of encouraging people to push for excellence.

Part of your job as a manager is to coach people to do great work not by brow-beating people into working long hours, but by motivating them and encouraging them to do their best effort.  If you are doing this well and your team is really producing – great!.  However, when they do produce, if you aren’t showing appreciation you are ungrateful and undermining any coaching you do. 

Next time someone on your team has a big success, let them know personally and congratulate them publicly.   If your company/division/area is small enough to have regular meetings, those can be great venues for talking about great work.  If not, your  group or team meeting is a great place to thank people for their success. 

Get in the habit of thanking instead of criticizing people on your team. Thanks shouldn’t only be reserved for those occasions when you award somebody a cash bonus. Sincere appreciation for the great work that people do encourages people to take pride in their work.