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3 Things Top Leaders Do While Appreciating
Sincere appreciation sometimes gets overshadowed in this era driven by results and hefty performance
bonuses. While performance bonus, incentives, elaborate felicitation ceremonies function as ‘ATL’ strategy,
sincere appreciation can be a vital ‘BTL’ strategy to improve morale and drive performance by inducing the
individual to excel. Having worked under some remarkable Bosses , I observed how they would appreciate.
They knew the difference between flattery and appreciation. While there are lots which can be said on
appreciation, I will tell you the 3 things I observed Top Leaders do while appreciating anyone.
1. Appreciate the progress: Imagine your team member who is normally late in submitting reports 75%
of the time. After you counsel her, you may see that her on time submissions have gone up to 60%, a
significant improvement, what should you do? Should you come down heavily on the 40% gap still
remaining? No, the right way would be perhaps to say “Good to see the effort you are putting in,
Reema. If you can improve like this, I have no doubt you will achieve 100% timely submissions, which
both of us agreed upon.” This way you are ensuring Reema stays on the path to progress. Progress
appreciation is important on any task which has an agreed upon end objective.
2. Avoid Congratulations with a rider: During my sales days, I used to read the congratulatory note
fellow Area Managers would write to their colleagues on some specific out of the way, achievement.
They would go something like this; “Congratulations Hemant on booking 500 units of XYZ at Getwell
Hospital. Looking for you to get the next 1000 units order.” Remember this is an exceptional event.
Therefore, at this moment when an exceptional task is done, 100% of that moment should be spent
on the current appreciation. Let him enjoy the moment fully. Standards can and will be set later.
3. Serve Appreciation fresh: Imagine your sales guy has handled an important customer objection
exceedingly well in front of you on the first call of the day. Do not wait till the end of the day to
appreciate his effort. Appreciate instantly and on the spot. Do not wait to get back, write a formal
mail and then maybe send some token. You may do all that but not at the cost of compromising the
freshness. Sometimes freshness of the appreciation is more valuable than the size of the appreciation.
I have said what I wanted to say. I want you to try this out for 1 week. Yes, 1 week. You be the judge of the
results.
Happy Appreciating.
Vikram A Munshi : Leadership Consultant : WhiteSpace Consulting & Capability Building :
Phone +91 9560974433 Email : [email protected]
