Do you like recognition? Well, so do your staff members, vendors and even the barista at your local coffee shop. Everyone wants to be recognized for a job well done.

Most business people can more easily find fault with the people they supervise or interact with than a reason to praise. However, setting a tone in an organization is more easily done through praise. We all want to avoid unpleasantness in our lives, in fact, I’ll bet you’re like me and while you won’t shrink away from a confrontational situation, you’d rather not add one into your day.

I make it a point to look for the positive things whenever I can and pay a compliment, say thank you, even ask for a salesperson’s manager and pay a compliment on a job well done…rare these days. I did this just the other day, I was ordering checks for my business and my call was handled by Anne, an obviously well trained tele-sales representative.

She applied lots of low pressure, helpful suggestions while taking my order.  She cross-sold and up-sold all while ‘helping’ me make a better buying decision.  I took two of her suggestions and respectfully declined two others.  When we were done, we were laughing and I said, “you are obviously well trained, nice job!”  “Tell my boss”, was her reply.

“Put her on the phone and I will”, I offered.  I was on hold for 30 seconds and her supervisor came on, introduced herself and said…”Is there a problem I can help with?” See how uncommon it is for us to expect a compliment, we all brace for a tirade from an unhappy customer.

I went on to tell her that no, I only wanted to pay Anne a compliment and let management (or as I like to call it leadership) know what a competent employee they had and what a happy customer I was. She was pleasantly shocked.

Hopefully this isn't your management style...

This interaction took slightly longer than 30 seconds, but you can accomplish the same, at least once a day.  Now a bit of warning here…if you are a notoriously grumpy, sarcastic, pain-in-the-butt, ogre of a boss…have a medical team on standby for the first week or so as people will hurt themselves falling over, running into things turning around to see who just said that, and in fact some people have even passed out from shock of getting a compliment…so start slow or they’ll think you’re drinking again.

Some ideas for you to use:

  • Compliment a staff member for a great job on a phone call
  • Thank someone for a job well done on a project or report, in a public area like a hallway where a few people can over hear the exchange (the water cooler effect will take it from there)
  • Reward someone publicly for coming up with a great idea that saved money, made money, took care of a client, etc.
  • Notice if someone is in complete and proper uniform (choose the wording properly… “Sally, that’s how we like to see the complete uniform worn”…  not…”Sally…looking good in that uniform.” (read with sleazy leer) You get the idea.

There are lots of ways to find positives in any business. Make it a point to try small, little compliments, catch people doing things right and call them on it in a positive way.  Everyone likes recognition, and reinforcing the positive behaviors you want everyone to emulate goes farther than calling people on negative actions and writing them up. The more you ‘catch and reinforce’ positives, the less writing up you’ll do…I guarantee it.

Do you have a workplace 30 second hero story?  I’d love to hear it.

Bob Holdsworth is the founder of The Holdsworth Group. He is a successful entrepreneur and a marketing and business growth consultant who specializes in getting his clients and their businesses UN-stuck .If you want to learn how to “Do business on your own terms!®, you want to talk to Bob. He is also the author of several nationally published articles, a sought after speaker, a veteran paramedic, a very happily married husband, the dad of two awesome twin boys, a dangerous golfer, avid reader, and is severely allergic to neckties.

Bob can be reached at bob@holdsworth.com

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