Beyond Positive Feedback

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Positive feedback is probably the most powerful management tool there is. Decades of research and first-hand experience has confirmed this.

A growing body of research also shows that practicing gratitude can have significant health and mental health benefits.

Is it time to go beyond merely providing targeted, objective-specific positive feedback in the workplace, to developing a general culture of gratitude? The benefits would be similar to systematic positive feedback, but different in important ways.

There is an subtle, but important difference between saying “You did well in just the way we need you to” and saying “I am grateful for what you have done here to move us in the right direction”.

• The simple positive feedback is effective but has an objective slightly distancing quality to it.
• The statement of gratitude captures not only the positive feedback on desired behaviour, it also suggests a personal and emotional impact on the ‘manager’ speaking. There is greater engagement.
• Greater emotional engagement supports more productive and resilient relationships.
• The expression of gratitude may confer on the speaker some of the optimism-building and stress-reducing benefits researchers are describing.

We are in an age where creative, laterally-thinking teams and empathetic, high EQ management are highly prized in maintaining competitive advantages. It would seem to me that taking positive feedback the next step and developing a general culture of gratitude could be a powerful way of supporting that. If the research is right, developing a culture of gratitude should support workplaces that are lower stress, encourage greater clarity and focus, create a safe atmosphere for risk-taking and far-outside-the-box creativity, and committed, low-turnover employee (and management!) engagement.

And if the research is not right, it still sounds like a pretty damn nice place to work.

Want to improve your communication with employees, partners, and customers? I help organizations improve communication through coaching, workshops, and strategic design.

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