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When your coworker does great work, tell their manager (2020)

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Re: When your coworker does great work, tell their manager (2020)

#3
Yes. This helps build the type of organization YOU WANT TO WORK FOR.

Reinforce it. You can't provide material motivation to the business (unless you're also the company's biggest customer .. heh.) You CAN provide reinforcing feedback to management.

Quantify why XYZ coworker helped.

And if Management does NOT listen, f'em. Notice when mgmt responds in a truly incorrect manner. And vote next with your feet.

Re: When your coworker does great work, tell their manager (2020)

#4
>Ask if it’s ok first…

This is very astute. Not everyone likes getting praise in public settings or they might not want their micromanaging manager to know they helped you outside the scope of their work. You should be cognizant of when praise should be given (i.e. when is it appropriate) and in what context as mentioned in the article.

That said, if you aren’t thanking and praising your colleagues for doing good work - YTA of the team. If you are calling out your colleagues for doing bad work, or not the way you would do it work, you should try to rephrase into praise w/ direction. “I really liked how you tackled this, have you thought about this approach?” Instead of “Why didn’t you do it this way?”

*edit* There’s a whole bunch of interesting information on why behavioral praise is better than outcome praise. Here’s a video about it I find sums it up perfectly (though it’s geared towards how it relates to children) https://youtu.be/59gx55bNunU

Re: When your coworker does great work, tell their manager (2020)

#5
I disagree with the angle on this about asking and how to go about things but mostly because complimenting in context is helpful.

When someone does great work, tell everyone, not just their manager. Do it in public and clearly in standups after they talk about what they did last day/week.

"I just want to mention, that work that Joe did on that module is fantastic, thanks!" It is so easy to be a force for good.

Being the person who does this evenly for all good work is a guaranteed way to make others feel better, work better, and to develop real friendships. People tend to know when they are working hard.

Compliment in public, correct in private.

Re: When your coworker does great work, tell their manager (2020)

#6

I disagree with the angle on this about asking and how to go about things but mostly because complimenting in context is helpful. When someone does great work, tell everyone, not just their manager. Do it in public and clearly in standups after they talk about what they did last day/week. "I just want to mention, that work that Joe did on that module is fantastic, thanks!" It is so easy to be a force for good. Being…

I hope I never have to work with you. I would be mortified if someone did this to me.

Re: When your coworker does great work, tell their manager (2020)

#7

I disagree with the angle on this about asking and how to go about things but mostly because complimenting in context is helpful. When someone does great work, tell everyone, not just their manager. Do it in public and clearly in standups after they talk about what they did last day/week. "I just want to mention, that work that Joe did on that module is fantastic, thanks!" It is so easy to be a force for good. Being…

I hope I never have to work with you. I would be mortified if someone did this to me.

I hope I never have to work with you

Re: When your coworker does great work, tell their manager (2020)

#8
The lab I'm involved in right now started off pleasant but there were definitely a handful of people who were less than pleasant to work with. Our PI has played a big part in picking the right people but we've all been very supportive of each other too. I don't think any one person started it but we all speak well of each other and it's only improved over time even when providing criticism of each other's work. This has been a big deal given our time working with human subject data throughout a pandemic.

At this point I can't think of anyone in my lab I don't like working with.

Re: When your coworker does great work, tell their manager (2020)

#9

>Ask if it’s ok first… This is very astute. Not everyone likes getting praise in public settings or they might not want their micromanaging manager to know they helped you outside the scope of their work. You should be cognizant of when praise should be given (i.e. when is it appropriate) and in what context as mentioned in the article. That said, if you aren’t thanking and praising your colleagues for doing good wor…

>“I really liked how you tackled this, have you thought about this approach?” Instead of “Why didn’t you do it this way?”

That crosses the line by lying, I think it would be better to say "I think it would be better if you did it this way." It's bad to call them stupid or make a superfluous claim of objectivity, but you don't need to pretend to smile and praise.

Re: When your coworker does great work, tell their manager (2020)

#10
My way is to write an internal Newsletter highlighting people’s interesting work, achievements, and highlight often-overlooked gotchas. People liked it, even the most introverted DevOps was happy that people started asked him more about his work, such as, his beautiful documentation.
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