Gordon Tredgold posted a fascinating thought about praise which inspired me to blog about it. Tredgold said, “What gets recognized gets repeated.” His idea is that if you want to create a culture of continuous improvement, then start by creating recognition. I think this might work for the majority of people, but there are certainly some people who are very uncomfortable with public praise.
Is praise an extrinsic reward? Is it okay to give rewards? These are two questions I have been asked many times when working with adults in a leadership position.
As much as we want people to be intrinsically motivated, very few people mind positive feedback. So, my experience is that when people do well, recognition is welcomed. We all want to know when we have accomplished what we set out to do. All too often we get told when we miss the mark, mess up. But, let’s be cognizant of the need for positive feedback.
I do like Tredgold’s steps to giving positive feedback. He recommends that such feedback must be (public, authentic, specific, enthusiastic and be considered as positive recognition by <strong>all.)
More often than not, my experience is that what the leader notices as positive, gets repeated by others.