I came across this again recently and was reminded how important the concept is. It’s easy to call out achievements and successes we see, and of course the bigger the success the more likely we praise. However, we need to also focus on praising the effort in addition to the outcome.
Kaizen is a successful philosophy of Continuous Improvement touted by many business leaders and publications. By recognizing the effort an not just the outcome, individuals are more motivated to improve all aspects of the organization, from rolling out multimillion dollar cash cows, to posting a sign reminding people to not put metal in the microwave.
Often good intentions go unnoticed simply because the outcome isn’t clear. For example when a developer refactors a method, the outcome is typically just that it’s easier for other developers to work with. There is no functional change and therefore its difficult to call out. However these small efforts that continually improve our business are just as important, if not more, and should be recognized just the same.
Praise is infinitely divisible, hand it out and you’ll always have more. You can say Good Job all day and never run out.
So take time this week to recognize the efforts within your teams not just the outcomes.
Christopher Grant 