Bill SituClub President Wow, I managed two alliterations in one title! Looks like my skills as an English major are coming to good use :) Now onto the topic of this post, which is all about the art of praise. The act of praising has an immensely powerful effect. I'm not in any way exaggerating here by using the word "immensely". In fact, as I see it, all leaders need to praise followers and know how to do it. Why should leaders praise followers?Think about the last time that somebody genuinely praised you in some way. How did that make you feel? Take a moment to recall. Awarding VP Public Relations (and soon-to-be VP Education) Ke Xu with his certificate of level one completion It goes without saying that whenever someone genuinely praises you, you feel very happy about it. Now imagine a team where the leader routinely praises the team members. What effect will this have? You probably guessed it. Morale will be high and everybody will be motivated to perform. As a leader, this is exactly the kind of team that you want to have. One of the ways that you nurture this is by praising. "FAST-P" AcronymPraising isn't rocket science, but it certainly does involve technique to be effective. This instructional video from the Canadian Cadet Organizations (which I work for) explains very thoroughly the various techniques of praising: FAST-P is an acronym that I created to conceptualize the various techniques of praise. The five letters in this acronym stand for frequent, authentic, specific, timely, and public. Frequent Yes, praise needs to be frequent to be effective. Frequent praise helps reinforce desired behaviours. As a leader, you should praise all actions of team members that are conducive to your team accomplishing its goal. Never save your praise until the very end. Team members always want to know if they're doing a good job. Authentic This one is self-explanatory. You need to be sincere with your praise. Otherwise, it won't have its intended effect, and might even have an opposite effect. Specific Statements like "good job" or "well done" are definitely forms of praise. However, praise is more meaningful when you're more specific. An example of this might be: "You've done a phenomenal job at welcoming our guests and converting them into members. Thanks to you, we've surpassed our goal of having 20 club members. Keep up the amazing work!" Being specific with your praise will reinforce the desired behaviour that you're after as a leader. Timely Praise needs to be delivered as soon as you notice praiseworthy action or behaviour. The longer you hold off on giving praise, the more your praising will lose its effect. Public Praise should always have publicity. Giving public recognition to team members serves an essential function. It showcases the efforts of a particular team member and makes an example out of them. This way, the other team members have a positive example that they can look up to. It also shows that you value work ethic as a leader. I LOVE it when I get to praiseI myself have done two terms as VP-Ed and two as president. In both of these positions, I have had the distinct privilege of getting to praise specific club members.
As VP-Education, I was the one who kept track of members' progress in the Toastmasters education program. Whenever a member completed a specific level, I would present a certificate of completion for that member during a club meeting. This helped motivate everybody to progress with their Toastmasters education. In previous posts, I spoke extensively about why this is so essential to a club's success. As a president, I got even more opportunity to praise club members. At our club, it is a practice that the president delivers closing remarks at the end of every meeting. A practice that I have as a club president is giving out Gold Stars during this section. Gold Stars are essentially recognitions that I give to specific members who are deserving of them. This is, for a fact, my favourite part of being a president. I'm proud to have awarded a gold star to almost member currently active in our club. To end off, here's something for you to think about: When was the last time you praised somebody? How many of the above techniques did it involve? What praiseworthy actions do you notice from your team members right now? Praise them at the next chance you get!
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August 2020
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