`A job situation without occasional praise can lower motivation levels and result in less-than-enthusiastic job attitudes. On the other hand, praise for good performance inspires more interest in work and even better performance in the future.”
So says an article in From Nine to Five, a newsletter for office workers published by the Dartnell Corp.
Praise is something we all like to hear. Yet many of us are not sensitized to the fact that praise is also important to give, when deserved, to our colleagues, employees and even our bosses.
”I am very careful about praising people,” a manager reports. ”It can backfire. I don`t want my staff to become dependent on praise. I don`t want always to have to prop them up.”
Not everyone agrees that seeking or needing praise is necessarily a sign of weakness. A pat on the back can make the day for us at work.
”When I feel in need of praise and I`m not getting any,” a teacher says, ”I just go around praising everyone else-people who deserve it. It works like a charm. Within seconds they`re praising me. And I love it.”
MARY SUE DILLINGOFSKI
Age 43, president, Dillingofski and Associates
”I think high praise for a job well-done is as important as a raise in salary,” says Dillingofski, sole proprietor of a strategic marketing firm for professional services.
”There`s nothing that motivates us like a thank-you or congratulations. When we finish up a job for a boss or client who says, `Good job!`, that gets the adrenalin flowing and makes us want to start working on the next project.”
Dillingofski, previously director of marketing for a film distributor and marketing manager for a major educational publisher, says she started her own business last year because ”friends and colleagues told me I was good at what I did and should give it a try.
”I would not have had the courage to go out on my own without that kind of praise-and things are going very well.”
While earning her doctorate in education at the University of Wisconsin, Dillingofski recalls, ”praise from your professors was basically your only benchmark. A day was judged good or bad by what a professor said about your work.”
On the other hand, she points out, ”Lack of praise, not getting enough recognition, is really demoralizing. We all want to feel we`re the best at what we do, and the only way we can know that is if someone else tell us.”
Wanting praise is not superficial, she insists: ”It`s critical to our well-being. We have to give it, too. I give vociferous praise.”
Dillingofski says, ”Praise is a secret weapon to increase productivity. A lot of firms use management by objective. I think they should use management by praise.”
ELLEN E. DOUGLASS
Age 35, attorney, Carney & Brothers, Ltd.
”Praise is important to give, but you have to use it sincerely and in moderation,” says Douglass, a corporate and civil litigation attorney whose firm represents such Fortune 500 companies as Sears, Roebuck & Co., Prudential Insurance Co. and General Motors Corp.
”People see through it when you`re heaping it on, and recognize it`s an inducement and not an incentive. People resent that, and regard you as a manipulator.
”If I tend to err when it comes to praise, it may be on the side of not giving enough. But I think it`s more appreciated when I do give it.”
When she was five years old, Douglass, a graduate of Northwestern University Law School, decided she wanted to be a lawyer. ”Once my parents realized what I wanted to do, I got continual encouragement from them, my neighbors and teachers,” she says.
”I also remember people saying I couldn`t do it, that I shouldn`t set my sights so high. That spurred me on, too.”
Douglass worked for the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Irving Pollack, a former SEC commissioner, ”increased my confidence in myself by praising my work and being supportive,” she says.
She was a partner with another Chicago firm where, she says, ”praise was absent.”
Douglass is a senior associate at Carney, a minority law firm. She`s the only female associate.
”When someone goes that extra mile for you, that`s the time to give the praise that`s due,” she says. ”But don`t use it as a carrot and stick approach. When it`s used as a carrot, you get tired of biting at the carrot.” If you are insecure, you can`t give praise, Douglass says. ”But praise shouldn`t be given to everybody. You have to be astute enough to know who deserves it.”
LUPE AGUILAR
Age 35, technical recruiter for professional placement, Commonwealth Edison
A mechanical engineer, Aguilar recruits people with a variety of professional degrees, mainly engineers. Encouragement, in the form of praise, influenced her own choice of engineering as a profession.
”In high school, the career development counselor told me I was very good in math and science, and that I should consider engineering as a career,” says Aguilar, who was born in Ecuador and came to the United States when she was l9.
”There were no engineers in my family. In fact, I was the first to go to college.”
Aguilar enrolled in chemical engineering at the University of Illinois.
”And there I found what lack of praise means. One professor was very rough on me. Because of his negativism, I switched to mechanical engineering, where I was encouraged.”
Aguilar worked as a design development engineer at AT&T Technologies for five years before she was hired as a marketing representative for Commonwealth Edison in 1985.
”Praise is very important to me,” she says. ”It`s a form of communication between employees and supervisors. It`s uplifting. I like to give praise right away when a job is done and well done. It has a lot more impact than if it is given three months later.”
Aguilar, president of the Chicago chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, gets both praise and recognition: She was named winner of the Hispanic-Black Achiever Award for l988 by her company.
”Praise is important for everyone,” she says,”but minorities, by definition, are a small number of people, especially in engineering. You might feel isolated. But praise makes you feel welcome, that you`re doing a good job, just like anyone else.
”It helps you feel assimilated, to know if you`re on the right track.”
Send comments and ideas for future questions to Carol Kleiman, The Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.
