Issue 2.35 of Unleashing Your Remarkable Potential

Unleashing Your Remarkable Potential
Issue 2.35 - August 29, 2005 - ISSN: 1551-6571

In Kevin's Own Words

Praise Matters

In working with businesses and organizations of all kinds, I hear the same concerns everyday:

How do we increase productivity?
How do we improve Customer service?
How do we keep people actively engaged in their work and with others on their team?
How do we reduce turnover?
How do we improve safety?

Even if you aren’t thinking about or concerned about every one of those questions, I’m sure at least one of them has kept you up at night in the past.

As leaders we think about these things because they impact the success of the organization. As coaches we think about how to impact these things day-to-day, person-by-person.

Potential Pointers

Listen to Kevin's thoughts on Gracious Spirit.

Click HERE to listen now!

As a coach, someone helping people improve their performance for the benefit of both the individual and the organization, there are typically two types of feedback that you could provide on their performance at anytime. Constructive feedback (sometimes called criticism) and positive feedback (which I will call praise).

Forgetting the words for a minute, these two types of information are important to anyone trying to do anything better. We need to know what we aren’t doing quite right, so we can adjust, and we need to know what we are doing well, so we can replicate that. Makes sense doesn’t it?

Now, let’s look at the words. I looked up criticism in my thesaurus and here is what I found:

“1. censure, faultfinding, disapproval, condemnation, disparagement 2. a judgment, evaluation, appraisal, analysis, assessment, estimation, valuation, 2 b critique, review, commentary.

Vantagepoints

The Words Do Matter

Air Canada Flight 154

I was boarding a flight in Edmonton, Alberta, bound for Toronto after a long day. As I handed my boarding pass to the Air Canada gate agent, I asked her if she was having a good day. Her response has been in my mind for nearly two weeks. She looked at me, smiled, and said, “All the better for you asking me, thanks.”

As I literally skipped down the jetway, I smiled. I have asked hundreds of people if they are having a good day. Never have I received that response. I’ve heard, “It’s ok.”, “No not really,” and “Fine, thanks.” But never, until now, have I heard “All the better for you asking me, thanks.”

Click HERE to read the rest of the story.

I also looked up the word praise, and found:

“v. 1 acclaim, laud, applaud, pay tribute to, compliment, commend, eulogize, extol, honor, sing the praises of, pay homage to, endorse…”

Now, think about these two lists of synonyms. Granted, not all of them make sense in a business context, but ask yourself these questions:

Which of these things have I received more of in my professional life?
Which of them motivates and inspires me to strive for greater achievement and higher performance?

And now with your coach’s hat on, think about these questions:

Which of these things do I share more often?
Which will help me most inspire and motivate others to reach their potential?

If you are like me and most everyone I’ve ever discussed this with, you have received more negative, “constructive” feedback than positive, encouraging feedback at work. And you believe that with more encouragement or praise you might have been more successful quicker.

The point in two words?

Praise matters.

Want some more proof?

According to a Gallup survey outlined in the book, How Full is Your Bucket? (read my recommendation HERE) 61% of American workers received no praise at work last year. 61%! And the #1 reason people leave their jobs is because the feel unappreciated.

It is undeniably true. You can prove it from your personal experiences and from the hard data. Praise matters. And it is vastly underused as a coaching tool by most people most of the time.

Early Bird Special

Join leadership expert, Kevin Eikenberry on September 15th for The Leader as a Coach – Five Powerful Ways to Support People’s Improvement.

Register today and receive a 40% discount off of your seat AND be one of the first seven to register and receive a copy of this week’s Resource Recommendation, “The Big Moo.”

Click HERE to register right away!

As you finish reading this and walk away from your desk and begin interacting with people (whether you coach them or not), keep these things in mind:

Everyone needs recognition and reassurance. Hopefully the exercise and the data above confirm this fact for you.
Praise gives us pride in our jobs. Given a choice, would you rather have people who take pride in their work, or not?
Praise generates enthusiasm and commitment. Committed people can work miracles, so it pays to build commitment.
Praise builds loyalty. What are the real and hidden costs of employee turnover?
Praise prevents people from feeling taken for granted. When people feel taken for granted they are less committed and loyal, aren’t they?
Praise motivates us to “go the extra mile.” The extra mile is often where we find satisfied customers, higher returns and more.
Praise improves our relationships. Would you like to have better relationships with those you lead, coach and work with?
Praise takes hardly any time and costs nothing. There are few things in life that can produce such great returns for such a small investment.

Get that praise tool out of your toolbox. Dust it off and allow it to become shiny with use. It is an easy tool to use. It is a fun tool to use. You might even want to take it out of your mental toolbox and lay it on top of your desk so you remember to use it more often.

If you want answers to the questions at the beginning of this article, start with praise, because praise matters.

Yours in Learning,

Kevin's Recommends

The Big Moo
by The Group of 33

You can’t buy this book yet. In fact, you won’t be able to buy it until October 22. But when you can, you’ll want to.

Subtitled Stop Trying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable, this unusual book spends 180 fast reading pages giving benefits of, ideas and inspirations for becoming remarkable. These ideas can apply to a business, team, project or an individual. I have several ideas that I will implement as a result of my initial reading.

It is a follow-up, of sorts to Seth Godin’s Purple Cow. Rather than just talking about being remarkable, it is remarkable itself in at least five ways:

It is written by 33 people (including people like Tom Peters and Mark Cuban among others I don’t know) and edited by Seth Godin. How many books have you read with 33 authors?
None of the chapters are attributed to an individual, though I am sure the chapters were largely submitted by the individuals, and not written in collaboration.
Each person on Godin’s original list ideal contributors said yes – 100%.
All of the proceeds will go to charity.
And, the book has been released as an uncorrected proof. Godin, the editor and project leader, got the publisher to allow sales of the pre-production version of the book if people bought a large quantity as a way to spread the word about the book (This is probably a first.)

The chapters are more like short essays and seldom longer than three pages, making this an ideal book for reading a quick few pages while waiting in line or between meetings. If you are looking for checklists and a model for being remarkable, this isn’t it. But if you are looking for ways to instill, inspire and inform yourself, you’ll want a copy.

While you can’t find the book at the bookstore yet, you can get a copy from us. We have a limited number that we are giving away to the next seven people that sign up for our next teleseminar – The Leader as Coach. The content there will be outstanding, and if you hurry, you’ll get a bonus you can’t get anywhere else. Click HERE to order your seat.

You can learn more and pre-order a copy at Amazon.com.

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