

67% don’t get enough positive feedback - athroop
http://blog.rypple.com/2010/12/67-of-employees-get-too-little-positive-feedback/

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tobtoh
To go on a slight tangent, whilst I agree that more positive feedback should
be given (and heck it doesn't cost you anything), recognition isn't
necessarily the most important factor in employee retention. One of the things
I was taught was that when leading/managing a team, the six things (in order
of importance) you should focus on for ensuring a high performing satisfied
team are:

1\. Clarity - ensure your team understands the end goal and what they are
trying to achieve

2\. Standards - ensure standards are set (standard for quality of work,
behaviour etc)

3\. Responsibility - give employees responsibility, trust and hold them
accountable for their actions

4\. Flexibility - give employees control over their work day, don't spoonfeed
or straitjacket them

5\. Recognition & Rewards - positive feedback etc

6\. Teaming - ensure a team spirit is developed

As someone who has managed technial teams from 4 to 90 people, I've found
these 6 factors are a pretty good guide. Most people focus on #5 and #6 when
discussing how to have a productive team, but you seldom see #1 to #4
mentioned - they may be self-evident, but I've seen more teams suffer from the
first four factors being absent or neglected than not.

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hvs
Do 100% of people _deserve_ positive feedback?

I'm not against positive feedback or denying that it has positive benefits to
employees, but the cynic in me just hears whining.

~~~
mtviewdave
"Do 100% of people deserve positive feedback?"

Yes.

If someone is working for you, and you have the ability to fire them, but
don't, then they must be doing something right. That something deserves
positive feedback.

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wlievens
In theory, sure. There's a gray area where you're not quite content with the
employee, but the employee is making some progress, so you may want to hold
out. But surely in that case frequent feedback is a must (to guide the
progress) so I guess your point stands.

And in many cases the manager doing the technical supervising isn't in charge
of the hiring and the firing.

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civilian
Think of it this way: Giving positive feedback costs you nothing and makes
someone happy!

I had a principal investigator running my lab who felt that she only had to
encourage the Grad students & undergrad volunteers, since they were working
for none/less money. Post-docs and Lab techs got paid, so that should be all
the encouragement they need. As a lab tech, I was not happy there.

~~~
stuaxo
You need both idealy

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Poiesis
This is one of my reasons for starting a side project. Having people pay me
money is very positive reinforcement as far as I'm concerned.

