Why Is It So Hard to Give Praise?

When I think about feedback, I often think “negative.” Yet this is not all there is about feedback that is important. I thought last night about the power of praise and how so few leaders give much of it. I went back to my leadership competency book I wrote with Dr. Andy Garman and found this -

Leadership roles tend to focus on fixing things, and it is easy to forget to notice what is going well.  Most good leaders will acknowledge extraordinary performance, but in these circumstances the praise is typically expected anyway, and thus tends to have less of an emotional impact on the recipient than receiving praise for more routine successful performance.  Highly effective leaders challenge themselves to keep a healthy dose of praise in their feedback mix; for some this means “hard wiring” the process into their daily routine.

From Exceptional Leadership: 16 Critical Competencies for Healthcare Executives - Carson F. Dye, & Andrew N. Garman, Health Administration Press, 2006