About the success of praise for great achievements you can read here:
Before We Really Get Started
Can you tell off the top of your head when you received praise lately?
Here, we want to shed light on the effects of praise that not only spurs us to new accomplishments, but also lets us understand why we have achieved something.
We will not take a closer look at constructive feedback. Such feedback is something positive, because it helps us to learn, to mend our weaknesses, and to correct our mistakes.
The following blog article might provide food for thought for all of us, and is not intended to be a scientific paper.
The Status Quo in Our Daily Lives
When we start looking at praise honestly, what do our everyday lives look like many a time at work and especially in private?
Don´t you instantly remember situations in which your masterpieces, after you have invested a lot of time and effort, have been taken for granted?
What do you feel if this is the norm and a "no criticism is praise enough" prevails? Haven´t we ourselves already reacted to our fellow human beings´ superb achievements with a mere short "thank you"?
At this point, a huge praise to all of you who know how to praise wisely at the right time.
How to Accept and Enjoy Praise
We know that some of us do not feel comfortable when having to accept praise. They feel embarassed when receiving it, especially in front of others. They then tend to downplay their achievements.
Why is that?
What do we accomplish if we encourage these people among us to acknowledge their achievements before themselves?
If we develop a positive view of ourselves and not only recognise our mistakes, we are able to optimise our poise and unfold our skills to their fullest potential.
Of course, we should aim at assessing our achievements and our abilities realistically, and keep our feet on the ground.
What to Praise
As Allison Master explains in her article „Praise that makes learners more resilient“ there is praise for personal traits, for instance, a great talent for drawing, and praise for the process which we applied in order to achieve something.
Naturally, we are delighted by praise for a positive trait. However, we cannot control a mere trait in the way we can control a process.
We can control our strategies, though, as well as our problem solving skills, and how we gather and use information. Praise for one of these helps us to understand why we have been successful.
How We Draw Strenght From Praise if Something Has Gone Wrong
Praise that is attached to a process even helps us when we were not able to complete a task as intended.
As opposed to praise, which we receive for one of our traits, it helps us to recognise that we do not have to question ourselves in general if something has gone wrong. We are not just incapable of completing the task successfully.
Rather, we do have the necessary resources in ourselves and have only to reconsider our approach. Did we choose the right strategy? Did we work hard enough? Did we use the appropriate knowledge and information?
Thus, we are able to determine what we need to change in order to obtain the desired result next time.
Further Aspects of Praise
Generally speaking, praise for our efforts along the way can optimise an outcome, because it motivates us.
If it is praise for the process we are using, we know that we can trust our course of action.
Praise for something we have achieved can spur us to push ourselves even more and to set ourselves new goals using the confidence we have gained.
A Training Course - One Detail - Its Enormous Impact
I became aware (again) of the often underestimated importance of a judicious praise during my CRM Trainier Course in Copenhagen in 2020.
Right from the start, it was part of the course concept to be prepared to be praised and to praise, no matter whether you were a participant or a trainer. Already in the invitation letter, an item was dedicated solely to this aspect.
It attracted attention that it was not about superficialness, but honest recognition of great performances, which, of course, had to be delivered and were delivered by everyone involved.
My Conclusion
I am convinced that appropriate praise at the right time is absolutely beneficial. I want to encourage you not only to sincerely praise, but also to be able to accept and enjoy such praise.
The praise we experienced in Copenhagen has quickend the atmosphere during our training course so constuctively that I am determined to apply it together with you in my CRM and PCM Seminars .
In Our Next Blog You Will Read...
... why our successes want to be analysed, as well.
Author: Eva-Maria Schottdorf
Date: January 8th 2021