Praise your remote working team today!

Giving praise to someone on a remote working team can be a great way to inspire them.

As teams we don’t succeed on our own, as islands cut off by the tide. We work, collaborate and integrate with others on a daily basis. How we behave or react with others in the working environment will have a positive or negative effect, both through the words we do or don’t say. The power of praise is a powerful and uplifting tool which although seems obvious, is perhaps something we, as Managers, don’t always make enough use of.

In these ‘remote working’ times, when team members might feel disconnected, unappreciated, or just a bit lacklustre, giving genuine and authentic praise to someone can reap so many benefits. Here are just a few:

• Boosting morale and positivity
• Driving motivation and engagement
• Building trust and loyalty
• Improving self-esteem and confidence

It’s easy to do, once you tune in to what to look for! When you notice a good contribution, a positive piece of collaboration, something brilliant happening within a team, or someone stepping out of their comfort zone call it out there and then — immediate positive feedback will make a big difference to your team member (and parking it to share later will lose its impact and value). In this current climate, the immediacy of giving praise is important for all the reasons above. Try not to wait for ‘significant’ achievements to take place — a fast, positive feedback loop is far more beneficial.

It can be useful to give an example of why you are giving good feedback to frame the praise around the activity or effort that has been noticed. This has the benefit of making your praise sincere and tangible. The good work has been noticed and it is more likely to be repeated in the future! As a general rule, if you try to be quicker to praise than you are to criticise you will become a much more motivating, respected and credible People Manager.

Try it today — think of something good that someone on your team has done and reach out to them with a small note. It could be an email, chat message or even face to face. Everyone loves receiving praise and we’d be willing to bet you will get a smile when you praise them.