Praise, but don’t gush. You have to read body language. It’s the same thing with a dog. If you overpraise a dog, the dog will shut down. The praise has to be sincere. Truly I want to manipulate them, but don’t want them to feel manipulated. Manipulation is a negative word, but the definition of manipulate is to encourage someone to do something that is good.
Everyone is motivated a little bit differently, but the bottom line is we all want to do a good job. We all want to be good people; we all want to make a difference in the lives of others, and being a leader means helping people do that.
Whenever you praise people for any idea they have, they are motivated to share additional ideas. If you’re getting people focused on the same vision, if you just do a great job and love what you are doing and give it your heart and soul, the money flows. You have to give to get. For that reason, everyone in our organization is tied to the bottom line. If we were to lose a client, everybody’s pay goes down. If we gain a client, everybody’s pay goes up.
I tell newly hired people that their basic job is to make the person above them look good. Then I tell the person above that their job is to develop the person below you. And when you get the people above and the people below working as a team and everyone [is]being recognized, it is a comfortable environment to work in.
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