I’m continuing my series on an in-depth look at a wonderful little book that’s twenty years old this year. The title is Management of the Absurd by Richard Farson. You may want to consider dropping back and reading the previous posts about ABSURD! I think it will put each new one in great context.
Praising People Does Not Motivate Them
Praise is very useful indeed as a lubricant to help keep our human relations in good working order. For one thing, people expect it. This is the one area where our author praises praise. People do enjoy being appreciated and it does improve relationships. But as a motivator, not so much.
One area in which we can really see and almost feel this principle at work is when the work of a high- status person is praised by a low-status person; it is often seen as presumptuous or even insulting. We’ve all been there and cringed at the moment, thinking of the person providing the praise as really sucking up or being completely unaware of how inappropriate their praise is coming across.
In the opposite direction giving praise establishes the fact that the giver is in a position to sit in judgment of the receiver. Receiving praise in this circumstance can feel very threatening or at a minimum very uncomfortable even if the praise is positive. We get uncomfortable when we’re being judged; good or bad.
So how do we motivate if praise doesn’t work? We take the time to get engaged. We learn, listen, understand, ask useful or sometimes naïve questions to stimulate our thinking. Our author says, “What really does release creativity and promote achievement is when a manager takes the time to get involved in the employee’s work – learning what direction the work is taking, the problems and possibilities it presents, the way the employee is dealing with the task. But involvement is demanding and time-consuming, which probably explains why many manager resort to praise as a substitute, hoping that it will accomplish the same results.”
Learning, listening and sharing. Dealing with the other person as a smart, whole, capable human being. Now that’s motivating. When someone cares enough to take the time to listen, learn and understand it really engages people.
Too many leaders are focused on “doing” rather than growing. If you only use praise and criticism, you’ll find yourself falling farther and farther behind because you’ve not taken the time to connect with your people on a real human level by getting engaged with them and their work. Don’t just praise, motivate!