Leadership Lessons from Michael Scott

Michael Scott Leadership Lesson: Regular recognition and praise inspires team members to give their best effort. Michael recognizes the value of praising his employees (even though he doesn’t always do it the right way.)

The following guidelines can help leaders become more effective in offering genuine, appropriate praise:

1. Be Consistent.  Don’t just distribute praise once a year during a performance review.  Make a habit of catching people doing things right.
2. Be Authentic.  Express genuine appreciation for what they have done, who they are and their contribution to the team. 
3. Be Specific.  Instead of just saying “you did a good job”.  Be specific about what they did well.  People are more likely to repeat a behavior when we make our praise specific.
4. Be Open.  Let others in the organization know the individuals on your team are doing a great job.  Praise them publicly in front of their peers.  This will have a bigger impact than praising them in private.

Praise is an effective way to increase employee engagement and promote a positive work environment. It only takes seconds to deliver, yet has an long lasting effect.