The importance of reprimands and praise

You may think it is common for business leaders to shy away from reprimanding employees. After all, no one likes being the bad guy. However, I find that managers also shy away from praising employees when necessary.

There are two reasons why people usually neglect both reprimands and praise. One, they don’t know how to deliver reprimands or praise. And, two, they don’t understand the importance of reprimands and praise. In this blog, I discuss the importance of feedback, both positive and negative, and the impact it has on your business.

The importance of reprimands and praise

Reprimands and praise are important for three critical reasons: successful leadership, successful employees and successful results.

Successful Leadership

Many people believe that issuing praise makes you a popular, well liked leader. Meanwhile, reprimanding employees is believed to cause uncomfortable working relationships and cause you to be disliked by your team.

Unfortunately, the above assumptions are where most leaders fall short. To become a successful leader, it is vital to deliver both reprimands and praise, when required.

Failing to deliver reprimands, and allowing employees to continue making mistakes or using inappropriate behaviour, causes a lack of respect for you as a leader amongst your team and colleagues.

Conversely, an abundance of criticism with a lack of praise can cause employees to lose motivation, hindering relationships and results.

Therefore, delivering effective criticism and praise at the correct time is vital to administering positive working relationships, developing confidence and improving your leadership.

At Kennedy Ross, our leadership training covers the importance of reprimands and praise and other vital skills to help you become a better leader.

Successful Employees

Leaders are there to get the most out of their employees by teaching them where they are going right and where they could improve.

However, 82% of people say that their leaders don’t provide appropriate feedback. Without this feedback, employees are likely to become demotivated and disconnected from you as a leader.

Appropriate, constructive feedback can motivate a team and ensure they have a desire to correct mistakes and succeed in future. In turn, a motivated team is likely to boost staff retention rates and overall employee morale.

Successful Results

Constructive feedback and well-deserved praise points employees in the right direction and ensures they are on track to achieve their targets. Add to this your team’s increased motivation, and sales, results and profit are likely to increase.

5 tips on delivering praise

When we catch someone doing something right, we need to tell them how you feel at the earliest opportunity;

1. Specifically praise both performance and behaviour.
2. Making it clear to the person what they did right, and the impact their behaviour has on themselves and their team.
3. Pause. (Let it sink in)
4. Encourage the individual to continue that performance.
5. Move on.

5 tips on delivering reprimands

When you catch someone doing something wrong, we need to tell them how you feel at the earliest opportunity and then move on

1. Express how disappointed you are.
2. Specifically reprimand the behaviour, telling them exactly what they did wrong, and the impact it has on themselves and their team.
3. Pause. (Let it sink in)
4. Encourage the person to change/do better, remind them what they must do and the impact it will have on themselves and their team.
5. Move on (and don’t forget the gentle tap on the shoulder, it shows you care)

To find out more about the importance of reprimands and praise, and how to successfully deliver this feedback, contact us today.