Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to give praise that works. That is,
Speaker 1: praise that leaves the person feeling good, and that increases
Speaker 1: the chances that the behavior will occur again. When it
Speaker 1: comes to praise, there are really just two important lessons
Speaker 1: to keep in mind, whether you're praising adults or kids
Speaker 1: at work or in your personal life. First, you should
Speaker 1: praise the process rather than labeling the person. It's really
Speaker 1: easy to praise someone by proclaiming them a genius, a Picasso,
Speaker 1: Ceo material or the like. Labels like these just roll
Speaker 1: off the tongue and don't require us to think or
Speaker 1: reflect much about the person's performance or its impact. They
Speaker 1: can feel good in the moment, though they can also
Speaker 1: come off as insincere or meaningless because they're so vague.
Speaker 1: But there's a bigger issue than their vagueness. When we
Speaker 1: give praise. By labeling people, we can make them less
Speaker 1: willing to take on a challenge and risk failure in
Speaker 1: the future. They become so attached to the label that
Speaker 1: they're reluctant to do something that might cause them to
Speaker 1: lose it. Psychologist Carol Dweck and her team famously conducted
Speaker 1: research on the effect of praising children's effort versus praising
Speaker 1: their intelligence. They found that kids who were praised for
Speaker 1: success on a set of problems with words like wow,
Speaker 1: you must have worked really hard, that is, praising their effort,
Speaker 1: wanted to take on more challenging problems in the future.
Speaker 1: On the other hand, kids whose intelligence was praised, wow,
Speaker 1: you must be smart at this I didn't want to
Speaker 1: take on challenging problems and perform less well. They didn't
Speaker 1: want to try something hard for fear that they would
Speaker 1: no longer be seen as smart. Do what concludes that
Speaker 1: we're better off praising effort or process rather than labeling
Speaker 1: people as having fixed traits. So rather than tell a
Speaker 1: kid good job on her homeworker, you're such a math genius,
Speaker 1: you might say that was a challenging fraction problem and
Speaker 1: you solved it. I see you tried several different approaches
Speaker 1: until you've found one that worked. And rather than tell
Speaker 1: an employee that she's a great speaker, you might say,
Speaker 1: I've heard you mentioned that presentations are stressful to you.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you your preparation and practice on this
Speaker 1: one really paid off. You spoke fluidly and made your
Speaker 1: points clearly, nicely done. Praising the process rather than labeling
Speaker 1: the person also works because process is within our control.
Speaker 1: If you praise my use of multiple strategy needs to
Speaker 1: solve a tough problem, or my clear communication, or my
Speaker 1: willingness to put in the time to practice, I see
Speaker 1: that those behaviors are valued and effective, and later, when
Speaker 1: I encounter a similar situation, I'll be more likely to
Speaker 1: turn to those behaviors which are within my control and
Speaker 1: are likely to lead to good outcomes. Again, the second
Speaker 1: part of giving praise that works connect your praise with
Speaker 1: the positive impact the praised behavior had. The Center for
Speaker 1: Creative Leadership has an approach called situation behavior Impact. This
Speaker 1: method lets people know how their behavior influenced outcomes. Here's
Speaker 1: how it works. For giving praise. You might say to
Speaker 1: a kid, Molly, I liked how you suggested that you
Speaker 1: and Jenny use a timer to help you take turns
Speaker 1: with the tire swing. You each had some fun and
Speaker 1: there were no tears or at work, Sam, you were
Speaker 1: so well prepared for that meeting. You'd anticipated every question
Speaker 1: our client had. Whether we land this contract or not.
Speaker 1: I know you gave her a positive impression of our company.
Speaker 1: This sort of praise is encouraging and better yet, now
Speaker 1: just people to make equally smart choices in the future.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
Speaker 1: that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts
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