How often have you told someone you appreciate them, or lavish them a compliment? It only takes a minute, and it means so much to the recipient.
The trick is to be sincere about your compliment – and it has to come from the heart. No one likes false praise. People know when you are just trying to make points by saying something nice, versus expressing an honest and heartfelt comment.
When you give a compliment, be specific and to the point. Elaborate on the comment with an example of their noteworthy behavior, or act.
In managing people for over 20 years, my goal was to “catch them doing something good” – so they could be praised accordingly. Look for those moments in which you can point out a positive attribute or quality. We all hear what we are doing “wrong” more often than what we are doing “right.”
In fact, Dr.Shad Helmstetter claims that before we are eighteen years old we have heard the word “no” or that we couldn’t do something over 148,000 times!
I’ll be in Boston on Saturday for the International Paralegal Management Association to give a talk called “How to Stay Motivated For More Than a Day!” I’m ready!