Hey everyone. Welcome back to #ThoughtFULLThursday. My name is Casey Hasten, Executive Recruiter, Director of Recruiting with VIP and all around #hiringguru. Continuing our theme on building a better team, I want to talk to you a little bit about the Power of Praise.
One of my co-workers is working on his MBA. This can be a challenge when working a full-time job AND trying to complete coursework. He shared with me recently how uninspired he was to complete his current class and finish the semester long paper. He was about ¾ of the way done, with only six pages remaining for his paper. He was to the point of burnout where he did not know where he would find the energy to complete.
And then it happened. He received a message from his professor saying this was the best well-written paper in the class and the professor could not wait to read the final chapter. Suddenly, my co-worker was full of energy and could not wait to complete this paper. He shared with me ideas which suddenly came to him to wrap the paper up in a tidy little package.
What just happened here? The straitum portion of his brain was just activated. Read this article here to understand a little better about why this is important. Believe it or not, compliments also directly relate to your sleep quality!
In addition, when people receive praise, the part of their brain which reacts to the praise releases dopamine. Who doesn’t want more dopamine?? (I could easily go off on a tangent about needing more dopamine and less cortisol, but this is not the right blog.) The HeartMath Institute devotes its training to teaching people, especially first responders, how to increase their levels of dopamine to control stress and decrease the amount of cortisol released into their bodies.
If we know praise increases productivity with our employees, why are we so stingy with it? I believe a big reason are the top executives can be so far removed from the employees who actually keep the company going, they forget to come down from their ivory towers and say thank you. This is not intended to be a derogative comment towards owners, but more of a reminder to remember the little people. Remember to thank the people who show up everyday to keep your company going.
It does not take much to encourage me to be productive. Here are the things that motivate me more than money:
- Great job, Casey!
- Thank you.
- I love that you did XYZ.
As you can see, it does not take much to motivate me. The Power of Praise goes a long way to getting the maximum productivity from me.
Hope you enjoyed this quick #ThoughtFULLThursday. Who will you praise today? Let me know.
