Hesitant to praise

In a recent workshop, a few participants shared that they were hesitant to give praise or positive feedback because doing so would send a message to the recipient that no further improvement is needed. “If I tell them they are great, they will think they have nothing more to develop.”  So positive feedback often turns into “you did great on this aspect of the project but you should also try to …” and the feedback is in fact turning corrective. Or positive feedback is left unsaid. That is the problem when feedback is kept too general. Giving comments that judge the entire person is not effective, whether it is about negative or positive feedback.

You don’t tell someone they “are not a team player”, since this describes the whole person and gives the impression the situation is beyond repair. Similarly with positive feedback, keep the feedback concrete and specific. “You did a great job on the project XYZ because you …”. Encourage the person to repeat what he did. Don’t tell him that he “Is a fantastic asset to have”. By being explicit about what exactly deserves praise, you leave the door open to further development in other areas or at other occasions.

Imagine a culture where people are afraid to praise because they are afraid it will mean the end of improvement! The benefit of getting a smile and lit up face go a long way when you want to keep your folks engaged ! So keep it short and stick to the specific facts.

Looking for a-ha's ?

In a recent HBR article (November 2014), Mohanbir Sawhney and Sanjay Khosla indicate 7 areas where people or organizations can look for new insights and new ideas for products or processes or improvements in general. They define insight as an “imaginative understanding of an internal or external opportunity that can be tapped into to improve efficiency, generate revenue, or boost engagement.” A more simple term is “the a-ha moment” that we have all experienced at some point. The authors list different areas where individuals or teams should be looking for such insights, like  anomalies in customer data or evaluating the frustrations customers (internal or external) have with your organization’s services. They explain clearly WHERE to look, but the key of HOW to look is a bit buried and not made really explicit. They end each of their 7 sections by giving examples of how to actually find these insights, and the how in this case is ... the question ! The authors each time highlight the potential discovery by examples such as “ask yourself … is this or that possible ? what would happen if … ?” And this part ... the HOW ... is really the key to creating insights, because you can apply this to any situation, way beyond the 7 proposed by the authors.

Asking questions to yourself, and hoping that some of them will generate an insight, is possible but limited by our own mental models. It is difficult to pull yourself out of your comfort zone and questions that you ask yourself would probably be limited in depth or degree of innovativeness. So that’s why it is useful to put a group of people around a table, and instead of brainstorming for solutions or answers to a given problem, ask each to come up with questions. The rule is that people can only state questions, and nobody will be answering them. The questions are there to stir up ideas. Just like in brainstorming, no questions are off limits, and nobody can react and judge what others are saying.  At first it will be a bit awkward, and some of the questions will be very basic. But keeping the practice up for some time, you will create a dynamic where certain questions trigger other questions. Don’t be discouraged by sometimes long periods of silence. Thinking is not a bad thing when it happens !

You can hope for a-ha moments while in the shower or doing your favorite sport. Or you can teach your team to create them by asking each other questions … Give it a try !