Career Opportunities

The High-Tech Career Handbook

A weekly ComputorEdge Column by Douglas E. Welch

Never Enough

May 13, 2005


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Would you rather work for someone who praised you for your good work, or someone who constantly denigrated your efforts? It seems an easy choice to make, but every day I see people, managers and high-tech staffers alike trapped in relationships where praise is in short supply. Even more, these same businesses often fail or never even approach their optimal levels of success. Yet, these people often see no connection between the lack of praise and the fortunes of a store, department or company. The “Never Enough” syndrome can drive many a high-tech worker into other jobs, if not other careers.


Yeah, but...


Any project, large or small, is a success of a thousand (if not, million) steps. Each step brings you a bit closer to your goal, but too often we fail to recognize our smaller successes and the accomplishment of others. The dialog often goes this way,


“Hey boss, I just solved that problem in the Commit routine (or order entry or network server login, etc).”
“Well, that’s nice, but...”


In one moment a manager can either support his staff members or send them to the world of “Never Enough.” In the land of NE, workers quickly discover that no matter what they do, no matter how hard they work, no matter how much money they save the company, it will never be enough to elicit even the smallest hint of praise from their managers. In one small encounter, you can either bootstrap staff members to even grander achievements or make them think, “Why bother?”


“Yeah, but...” can be one of the most destructive forces in an office environment and yet people use it every day. Wouldn’t it be better to say, “Wow, that’s going to move us exactly in the right direction. Now that we have this solved, what can we attack next?”


How would you look on someone who, when offered a gift, refused it as “not good enough?” You would probably consider them rude, ill-mannered and, possibly, just plain mean. Yet, when we refuse to acknowledge small successes, it is exactly the same experience. Someone comes to you saying, “I did this good work for you (or the company, the family, etc.) and you dismiss them. How would you feel in the same situation? Would you be inclined to bring any more successes to this person? Would you be inclined to accomplish anything at all?


Not about self-esteem


Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t about praising people when they have done wrong, or, more usually, done nothing. It is about acknowledging those people who have done well, and often consistently so. If someone is not performing well, give them one chance to improve, based on clear guidelines you provide. If they still don’t perform, let them go. Too often we spend so much time focusing on the laggards in a group we entirely fail to acknowledge the good work that is happening. Instead of trying to whip the laggards into shape, focus your attention on the accomplishments that are happening every day.


Praise is a natural human need. We all need to feel that we are doing good work and that someone, anyone recognizes that fact. Should you praise someone for sharpening a pencil? Of course not. Should you praise them for debugging a troublesome web page? Of course. If you don’t, most people will quickly understand that you never intend to praise them. They immediately know that they have entered the land of “Never Enough” and should just stop trying.


Denying praise for the small successes in your company will insure that your large successes are fewer and farther between. Everyone must feel that their efforts are appreciated as one small step in the march towards a project goal. They don’t expect to be carried about on their co-workers shoulders, or even given large raises, only that their success be acknowledged as a success.


It is here that projects are made and unmade. The land of ‘Never Enough” is a lousy place to live and an even worse place to work. If you find yourself there, as manager or staff, you are doomed to failure, unless you learn to support the work of those around you.


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