One of my biggest failures as a leader is making positive comments that encourage other people on an intentional ongoing basis. With performance metrics being driven more by collaborative relationships than directive responsibilities this is a fatal flaw that I must resolve. This HBR post takes the goal of praise and builds it into the ongoing organizational culture:
“In The Happiness Advantage, I describe an experience with a leader at a Fortune 100 company who told me, “We don’t need a happiness program, we pay people to be engaged.” This is a surprisingly common refrain from unenlightened leaders, an assumption based upon the belief that pay equals engagement.”