When Is A Compliment Insincere?

I really like…

I’ve been thinking about compliments lately. They are some of the simplest things you can do to help improve someone’s feeling of self worth a work, but there’s inherent issues. What if someone doesn’t really deserve a compliment, but you have given everyone else one? When is a compliment insincere? Or kind of rude?

Praise with action and with words
If someone’s done a good job with a project and taking the reigns, the answer might be giving them praise, but it might also be giving them the training opportunity they’ve been asking for, or a different role in their next project. Reward as well as praise. Acts of trust can be as small as saying “I don’t need to review that document, you did a great job last time, I trust you” and as big as giving someone a large responsibility.

Public vs. private
There is worth in praising people in front of others. It makes some people feel better to know that you’re so proud of them that you want to show others. Of course, some kinds of praise (growth after difficulty, for example) are better given in private.

Be specific
Leader should give lots and lots of praise, but there’s no use for praise just to give praise. Don’t say you liked that story. Say you liked that story because the writing was really well done and paired with visuals. Being specific shows that you’re paying attention to the details.

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