‘Great job’, someone said to me, only yesterday. Of course it was ‘great’ to hear them say it, but it would have been so much more powerful if they’d taken the trouble to tell me what was so ‘great’ about it. And what had I actually done that was worth pointing out – or was it just a throwaway line?
I’m sorry if all this sounds a bit un-great-ful – it’s not meant to because we should all enjoy receiving praise, but it’s so much more motivating if it spells out what you did well and what you should carry on doing. A simple way of making sure that your praise and recognition really lands well is to be specific, include the impact of what the person did and then encourage them to keep doing it. AID is the tool – Action, Impact, Do. Try it next time you want to really motivate someone through praise.
