Leadership Nudge – HOW WE GIVE THANKS

Here in the United States we are about to celebrate our Thanksgiving Holiday. Giving thanks, recognizing, and praising our people is going to be top of mind. How we give thanks and how we praise our teams has a significant impact on their subsequent behavior.

If we say “Hey, thanks for doing such a good job,” and we praise a trait, the outcome can be quite interesting. We say things like, “You demonstrated how smart you are,” or “You are really talented.” That tends to push people into a fixed mindset. That will make them a little more risk-adverse and not want to test whether that trait is actually true or not.

Praising people for their behavior, like “You worked really hard,” or “You showed great attention to detail, perseverance, or grit,” tends to give people a growth mindset. It encourages them to engage in more of that behavior.

To learn more, check out this article from Carol S. Dweck, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids1/

Our Leadership Nudge to you this week is this:

When thanking your teams this week, praise their behavior!

Let us know what how it goes!

Enroll for the Leadership Nudge – www.davidmarquet.com