“You’re kidding me.”

That was my first thought.

“Not in current times.”

That was my second thought.

I asked again. The four people at the table looked at me, nodded “yes” with their heads, and confirmed.

I was presenting “Leading with Influence” for AWWA (Rocky Mountain) when this conversation happened.

And it shocked me. It really shocked me.

Our conversation topic was, “Receiving compliments”.

The reaction of those four attendees: “ We never get compliments at work.”

That was a shocker for me. How is that possible? If a person is so bad that you never ever can give them a compliment then that person shouldn’t be in your organization.

Please don’t be one of those managers who never compliment!

It doesn’t serve you or your employees. Acknowledge your people. Give them sincere compliments. Compliments are an engagement booster; they point out people’s strengths, and help people flourish. And they are FREE.

THIS WEEK’S LEADERSHIP BEYOND CHALLENGE:

As this topic is close to my heart I want to challenge every reader of this article to compliment one co-worker or employee a day for a whole week. Start today and keep going for a whole week. Make it specific and meaningful.

Just imagine if the hundreds of people in the LeadershipBeyond community will participate in this challenge, what an impact this will have.

Let me know me that you’re going to be part of this challenge. Just email me.

If you like to get some guidance on giving compliments before you start this challenge, here are some To Do’s and Don’ts.

Compliments: To Do and Don’ts:

1. Don’t Confuse a Compliment with a Thank You.

A compliment is not the same as a thank you. Sometimes when I talk with clients about a culture of acknowledgement their first reaction is “Well, I always thank my co-worker.” Great, keep doing that. But be aware that a Thank you is not a compliment.

TO DO:
Thank AND compliment your employees and co-workers.

2. Don’t give a compliment in general terms.

A compliment will be received better if it is specific. Just think about the difference between these two compliments:

“Joan, you’re so good at customer service. We’re happy that you’re part of the team.”

Or

“Joan, you’re so quick at understanding what the customer is really complaining about. That helps enormously with finding a good solution. We’re happy that you’re part of the team.”

TO DO:
Give a specific compliment

3. Don’t give a compliment as a way to address something else.

If you need to address something, address it. But don’t make it more comfortable for yourself by adding a compliment.

The result will be that YOU might feel better. Something like, “Well, That’s been taken care off. I finally addressed the issue. I’m glad that I thought of adding that compliment. It made it much easier to tell her that she needs to improve. ”

The result for YOUR EMPLOYEE will be that they don’t remember the compliment or they remember the compliment and think that what you really wanted to address is not so serious.

And don’t forget to be part of the LeadershipBeyond Challenge of this week.