Praise. Pure and Simple.

Imagine getting a present. It is beautifully wrapped.   You open it and find a much-wanted/needed gift inside - and attached to the gift is a list of chores that the giver believes you should be doing. . . like,  right now.

Or attached to your bonus check is a performance improvement document from your boss.

Kind of deflating - right?   Yet, this is how leaders often deliver praise in the workplace:  "Thank you for doing a great job - but I really need you to pay more attention to your payroll."   Is the praise heard?  No.

It's kind of this crazy thing that a) we consider ourselves so time deprived that we have to hit all communication points in one shot, or b) God forbid that we actually let our team be praised without giving them something else "to aim for."

There is a caveat;   if the goal is to counsel for performance improvement, often the message is better received if a multi-dimensional view of the receiver's performance is achieved.   This means that the leader is acknowledging the strong points of the work as well as addressing that which is challenging.

There is a different purpose for praise;  it is to offer gratitude for a great job performance.  It should be special.  It should stand alone.

Consider that much of the work force is more finely attuned to criticism vs. praise.    They are conditioned to hear about the things that need improvement.   If a message of praise is mixed with one of "and you can do this better" it is the latter statement that will be louder.

Often we consider offering praise and gratitude as just a nice little icing on the cake. A special treat that we occasionally do.  That's wrong.  Praise, the recognition of how we want things done, should be an extremely powerful tool.   It points people in the right direction - it says "let's do this again and again and again."  Praise leads someplace positive.

If we want positive feedback to hit its mark, separate it from all other messages.   Don't tag it on anything else.   Recognize people and thank people. . .pure and simple.

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My book "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders" is available on Amazon Kindle.