Say THANK YOU to help build and support a high performing team

Why should you give thanks to others in the team? Have you ever stopped to give way to someone in another vehicle and as they pass there is not even an acknowledgement let alone a thank you from them? How did it make you feel?

Saying thank you, even for ‘trivial’ things can make a big difference to how people feel and behave. People who feel appreciated and respected are more motivated than those whose efforts go unrecognised. They tend to be much more engaged and committed to their teams because they know that they are making a difference (making a difference always scores highly on engagement surveys and questionnaires into what drives people to do the work that they do).

Thanking people can be more powerful than rewarding with monetary or material bonuses. Giving sincere praise helps to build good work relationships within a high performing team and cements the feeling of trust. It becomes a reciprocal thing where others are very willing to return the positivity – this creates a much better team dynamic and culture.

Praise has another amazing effect on human beings – it releases chemicals that make us feel good. When we receive genuine and sincere praise, our bodies release Dopamine. This is a neurotransmitter, and it is associated with feelings of happiness, pride, and fulfilment (all the things that we want and need in a high performing team). When you praise someone, you are assisting them to want to replicate that feeling again and again by carrying out the action that led to the praise (it feels good after all). Therefore, you are helping to create a sustained positive team culture.

Things that get in the way of praise

Some people find it exceedingly difficult to give praise. If they were brought up in an environment where this did not happen, it probably will not be their default to give praise to other people. Others can feel uncomfortable because for various reasons they feel embarrassed dishing out praise to others, especially in public.

If you struggle to give praise, try and discover why and take action to change this about yourself. Try and make it a conscious thing every day to recognise other people’s good work and as uncomfortable as it may be for you – praise them. The more you do it, the easier it gets.

How to make praise more powerful

Try these ideas:

Do not go over the top

It is important to give praise but do not go over the top. If you praise all the time for every single little thing, it will lessen the impact of your praise and potentially you will come across as shallow or false to others.

Do not be vague

Have you ever heard praise such as “good job!” or “Well done, you are doing great!” While this is better than nothing, you will make more of an impact if you are more specific. Being specific cuts out any confusion.

Every time you praise people in your team, be specific about what they did and what impact their actions had. If you say, “Dave did a great job yesterday!” it is too vague.

For instance, you could say, “The way you laid out the graphs in that project report really helped me to deliver the update to the senior leadership team in a clear and concise way; thank you.”

Involve in action

There are many ways that you can complement and praise others. Involving people in your own challenges and coming up with actions together is a brilliantly subtle way of praising others as it says a lot about how much you trust and respect their experience, skills, and character. This is one of the reasons that having an inclusive decision-making process is so important to a high performing team.

Praise sincerely

When you praise others with sincerity, the rest of the team will very quickly learn what is important to you as a team member – it shows what your values are.

The concept of sincere praise is especially relevant if you are trying to create a culture in a new team. This builds strong bonds and helps to create a level of trust.

Balance your praise with other feedback. The optimum ratio for performance is a 3:1 of positive to negative feedback. But do not get bogged down in numbers, the important thing is to always aim to give more positivity without losing sight of what needs to be improved – I am not saying gloss over the bad with all positive good stuff.

Praise everyone accordingly - Know the people in your team

Everyone in your team is different and their default setting for how they like to be praised will change according to different circumstances. Each team member will have different motivations (although many will be similar). You must know members of the team below just surface level. Getting to know your team’s interests is so important if you are going to praise people accordingly.

Some people love being the centre of attention and it motivates them more if they are praised publicly. Other team members may prefer a quiet “thank you” away from the crowd. It is important to analyse the best type of praise for each person.

Do not just praise the ‘big stuff’

Do not think that only the major projects/tasks or your ‘preferred’ team members should receive your praise. This can lead to some people getting praised all the time – this may continue to drive them to perform well, but what about the rest of the team, you should try to include the quieter team members who get less recognition – this might be the thing that brings them out of their shell and motivated to do more.

Praise the small things (without going overboard). Not everything has to be a big life changing event – I have always loved the quote from Anita Roddick:

“If you think you are too small to make a difference, sleep in a room with a mosquito.”

Be consistent

Like parenting or training a dog, praise needs consistency. If you praise often for one week, and then do not praise at all for the next three weeks, you will create confusion in the team. Instead, create a consistent praise team culture.

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Remember that it is NOT only a leader’s job to dish praise out.

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If you wait until your people are leaving the team or organisation to start praising them then it is too late. Make it a habit and a team ‘cultural norm’ to give genuine, and appropriate praise. It is common sense that people who feel recognised and appreciated are more likely to stay in a team than those who are not.

Cheers.

Dave

Extract from the book Team Foundations - www.teamfoundations.co.uk

www.thesuccessfactory.co.uk