A leader’s words are a powerful means for inspiring workers.

BY MARCEL SCHWANTES, INC. CONTRIBUTING EDITOR AND FOUNDER, LEADERSHIP FROM THE CORE@MARCELSCHWANTES
For Inc.

Photo: Getty Images

Leaders have a powerful tool at their disposal that they often overlook — words of affirmation. According to Gallup research data that involved four million workers across more than 30 industries, employees who receive verbal praise at least once a week experience increased individual productivity, produce higher loyalty and satisfaction scores from customers, and are more likely to remain with their organization.

Affirming words and phrases go a long way when speaking to employees. The key lies not just in what you say, but also in how you say it.

Here are some specific examples related to praising people for their performance, their leadership traits, and where they stand with the organization:

Praise for performance

“That presentation was extremely challenging and time-consuming. You did an outstanding job interpreting the data in a way that everybody understood.”

As you see in the example above, it’s important for employees to know that their leaders are taking notice of their performance. So, as leaders, show them that you do pay attention to what really matters by being specific with your praise so that the behavior is reinforced and repeated. Here’s another example:

“Your extra efforts for onboarding the new team meant a lot to us. They have hit the ground running fast because of your help and have exceeded their productivity because of it.”

Praise for good leadership

“Your positive attitude and encouragement during such a challenging time made a huge difference to the team. They all look forward to Mondays more and really feed off of your energy to overcome daily challenges. Because of it, it has spread to other teams as well.”

It’s not just performance and results that people want to be appreciated for. Other attributes such as leadership, communication skills, and resilience are equally important to drive the business forward. By praising people for their leadership traits, we can reinforce the cultural behaviors that make the company a great place to work. For instance, acknowledging someone’s communication skills in pulling a challenging team together or praising their resilience for bouncing back with strong numbers after a tough quarter can go a long way in boosting their morale and motivation.

Here is another example which you can translate to your own situation:

“Your calm and confident demeanor during last week’s crisis was a game-changer. Instead of people blaming each other, you helped the team to focus on finding solutions for the client and fixing the process to prevent it from happening again. You played a vital role in saving the company from losing one of its best clients.”

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