William James said, “The deepest human need is the need to be appreciated.” Positive feedback and recognition are vital parts of leading your employees well.

Recognize your people for the work they are doing and how it serves the vision. It doesn’t take much time to encourage someone, but it does take intentionality. No limit to the power of positive recognition and praise as long as it is sincere.

Here are some ideas of where to start.

Provide ongoing feedback in a six to one ratio (8:1) where six represents positive feedback and one represents constructive feedback elevates engagement exponentially.

•          Never give negative feedback for relationships to flourish.

•          Praise is the single most powerful tool at your disposal for improving performance.

•          Pay attention to your best performers. Catch them doing something right.

•          Stroking the right way for the right reasons at the right time, is a powerful reward.

•          Make winners out of your people by creating positive self-images.

Feedback for any good and valid performance or behavior or attitude must be:

•          Truthful – Sincere, authentic recognition, truly appreciative of a person’s success.

•          Specific – focused on specific attitude, behavior, result, or achievement – tell them exactly what they did & be fact-based.

•          Positive – don’t mix positive with constructive feedback.

•          Timely – immediate within 24 hours – as soon after the event as possible.

•          Personal – express how you feel and why you think it was important.

•          And Communicated face-to-face – not electronic.

Feeding people & Nurturing people

•          Make people feel important – people need to feel valued by the organization.

•          Let them know how their attitude & behavior contributes to the organization’s goals.

•          Deep and Passionate Listening is a critical success factor.

•          Always do what you say you are going to do.

•          Always say please and thank you and mean it.

Always be on your “A” game

•          Treat employees as human beings. Feedback is empowering & powerful.

•          Have a mindset to help people grow and be all they can be.

•          Respect them and hold them accountable to high standards.

•          Appreciation and recognition is the best tool for improvement.

•          Treat your employees as valued business partners by linking their personal goals with organizational goals.

•          Participative decision-making equals a feeling of ownership and mutual respect.

•          Treat employees as if they really are your true assets and brand ambassadors.