OCTOBER 07

Recognition skills are not something you’re born with.

GET IN TRAINING

There is an art to giving compliments. That’s why we encourage all the managers we meet with to go to recognition training. Don’t think you need it? Here’s just one example of how easily recognition can go wrong.

The goal, in this example, is to give specific, positive recognition. Something along the lines of: “Bill, I’m really pleased with the way you coordinated the task force meeting. As you know, cost containment is a key goal of our company this year, and you and your group came up with a very practical yet creative solution to our problem that helps meet that goal. The savings will be more than $10,000 to our department. Fantastic work.”

Without training, the message might instead come out nonspecific and broad, like this: “Bill, many thanks for all the work you did this past year. You’re really a terrific person. I really like knowing you.” (Add “Have a great summer, let’s do stuff” and you’d have a yearbook message.)

Or, even worse, the praise may be tinged with negative messages: “Bill, I thought you presented some great ideas this morning. Those folks really took note of your suggestions. I’m not happy, however, with the way you handled the group. You never drew them out….”

Knowledge is power. The short time you spend in recognition training will pay dividends for years to come.