When someone does something well, a good coach jumps on the opportunity to praise them. Praise is a great motivator. But misplaced praise can demotivate.
Making people feel good about themselves in a vacuum doesn’t work. In my past, I fell into the habit of always praising people. It hurt their performance and our relationship.
The Results Vacuum
I praised style. I praised effort. I even praised people for good intentions. There is nothing wrong with praising these things when results follow. But, in the absence of results, the praise was unwarranted.
The Problem With Unwarranted Praise
This phenomenon of recognition without results is prevalent in our society. It starts in youth sports. Read: American Idol - Youth Sports and Self-Esteem
Now I see too many leaders in business doing the same thing. Praise comes without production. Some people believe this is what coaching is about. They believe praise is what will motivate people. I disagree.
When praise comes in the absence of production, we reinforce that results are secondary. Whatever a coach reinforces, the players will continue to produce.
Praise Versus Encouragement
Before anyone jumps on my comments and thinks I am advocating for an autocratic or tough love style, I want to be clear. There is a difference between praise and encouragement.
Results come before praise.
Encouragement comes before results.
Praise synonyms: celebrate, exalt, acclaim, commend
Encouragement synonyms: boost, motivation, spur, stimulus
Praise comes after the fact. Encouragement comes before.
A Coach’s Job
A coach’s job is to have impact. A coach is only needed if the people she coaches are getting better. If her team is stuck, and players are not improving, she is not doing her job.
Praising people who are not producing results is not coaching. Encouraging those same people is. Prior to the results being realized encouragement focuses on potential, past successes, joint problem solving and other supportive behaviors.
The best thing to do for a person who is struggling is to be candid and tell them the truth about their poor performance: “You are not cutting it right now.”
The encouragement comes when the coach enters into problem-solving mode to help the low performer reaches his goals: “Let’s come up with a plan to change that.”
Until there are results to be praised, encouragement should be the coach’s primary tool. After the employee reaches his milestones the coach should shift to praising.
The Bottom Line:
Coaches need to be careful not to confuse praise and encouragement. A coach can encourage a person lacking in results to new heights. But rarely can that same person be praised to new heights.
On the other hand, a consistent performer who receives praise will likely want more. Praise, praise, and praise again in this case….as long as the results continue to be evident.
Question:
When have you seen people settle for lower performance because they are already receiving praise for being mediocre?
I love the concise and to the point idea, “Results come before praise; encouragement comes before results.” All too often in education I see administrators and teachers who fail to understand the difference. Teachers or students receive praise, but without results and they learn that results don’t matter. This simply isn’t true. Results are very important. Thanks for making this concise and clear explanation of the difference between praise and encouragement, this is something that other administrators and coaches will understand.
Cheers,
TS
It was a lesson learned the hard way! Thanks for your comments and encouragement. Please share my site with others as you see fit.
Dave
Hi Dave!
An interesting point you are trying to make here. I certainly agree about the praise and the way we are teaching our kids today about “there are no losers.” Boy, when that first time of losing occurs and no one says. “It’s OK,” which their boss will certainly not say, it will be a letdown.
The first time I was allowed to play on the “School” basketball was in 8th grade. We played our 8th and 9th grade in “Jr. High” and 10-12 in H.S. While we were in Jr. High, we went 17-0 when I was in 8th grade, and 19-0 when I was in 9th grade. No one had to give extra praise. As a sophmore in HS, I played on the JV Team. We finished 17-1. To this day, forty years later-LOL, I remember crying my eyes out at home about our first loss. I had just never considered it. It was an important thing, becasue it was halfway through the season and as you can see, we never lost another one, but the feqar of a loss was already there.
This silly story is to talk about how important praise was. It was easy for our coach because of the wins, but what I remember most os the praise he gave me in practice and/or the game when I executed somethiing well. It coould be a simple box out, the way I set a screen, the pass I made to the man downcourt. The key to his praise was it was specific. Praise in the form of platitudes is of no help. Coming off the court andf getting a “atta boy” didn’t help. The same is true in business. Encouragement can be givin because it is based on hope. Praise should be given when it is specific.
That is a great point. I wrote about giving praise in a past blog called The 4 STEP Process for Positive Feedback.
Specific
Timely
Enthusiastic
Public
We are on the same thought process I believe.
Is it alright to put part of this on my blog if I include a reference to this web page?
I am sorry I missed your comment. Yes. Please send me the link to where you are republishing the information.