Giving praise is worth the effort

Giving praise is worth the effort

by | Mar 11, 2021 | The Intro

Think about a colleague or a member of your team (or a friend…that works too).

What do you appreciate about them? What are their secret skills? What project or assignment or initiative have they knocked out of the park recently? What makes them especially awesome?

Chances are, this is a pretty simple exercise. We work with rockstars and it’s easy to think about what makes them so special.

Here’s the harder question: When was the last time you told them what’s in your head right now? When was the last time you sat down to articulate thoughtful, specific praise to your team? 

Friends, those shout-outs matter.

Giving praise is worth the effort. 

Thumbs up

We all need reminding that we are good at our jobs — and it always feels good to know that we’re appreciated. Especially these days, when we’re working in our isolated home-bubbles, a vote of confidence from a boss or colleague can make all the difference. 

As an added bonus, giving praise makes you feel good, too! It’s that same gratitude magic in a different package. But for whatever reason, we don’t make the time to give praise. We assume people already know what we appreciate about them.

This week, stop assuming. Send a Slack message, write an email, pick up the phone. Let your team know how awesome they are. 

It’s ok to turn your camera off.

It’s ok to turn your camera off.

by | Mar 4, 2021 | The Intro

Hello, our Zoom-fatigued, emotionally exhausted, been-working-for-a-year-straight-through-a-pandemic friends. How is everyone doing?

As we approach the one-year anniversary of full-time work-from-home life for our team, we want to give each of you a gift:

It’s ok to turn your camera off.

Listen. We’ve been at this a long time. And while seeing your colleagues’ faces on a screen has its benefits, it can be incredibly draining. (It’s science! Stanford researchers just published a study that concludes that “videoconferencing technologies are exhausting.”)

Person on a zoom conference call

And while we can’t avoid every Zoom gathering or cancel all of our meetings, we can (and should) give our brains, and ourselves, a break. Turn off the camera. Or try this old school thing called a phone call.

Put in headphones, stand up, and walk around. If you’re brainstorming, try doing a monotonous task like washing dishes or wiping down counters while you chat. In our experience, it has the same brain-loosening power as doodling—but you end up with a clean kitchen. Or simply close your eyes while you think.

You get to prioritize your energy and mental health.

And you don’t need to be staring at someone to have an effective meeting.

Treat your teammates like people.

Treat your teammates like people.

by | Feb 25, 2021 | The Intro

Last week, our world fell apart.

We live in Austin, Texas—and if you had your eye on the national news, you probably saw that our city fell into a deep and extremely dangerous freeze. Electricity (and heat) went out for days. Pipes burst, water was turned off, and the water that managed to keep running was no longer safe to drink.

It was stressful, to say the least. (And cold. Very cold.)

We decided to take a week off from this newsletter and remember one of our very best leadership lessons:

Treat your teammates like people.

 

Treat your teammates like people - picture of hugging team

In the midst of disaster, the work can wait. If your people are panicking, anxious, grieving, or on day five of no showers, their ability to join the morning Zoom call can (and should) take a back seat. Instead, check in on them as humans.

It’s amazing how significant a genuine “how are you?” (with no ulterior agenda) can be.

But knowing how to respond to your team well in times of crisis requires that you know your team.

The “good leader” work doesn’t start when the s#!t hits the fan—it starts right now. What do your teammates like? What do they do when they aren’t working? What’s their favorite book or TV show? What stresses them out? How do they respond when the world gets hard?

Building relationships with your colleagues—knowing your teammates as people first, employees second—will make you a better leader. It will equip you to respond well when things go wrong. It will build trust, cultivate honest conversations, and prepare you for the hot mess situations when they arise (if 2020 and 2021 have taught us anything, it’s that out-of-our-control disasters are unavoidable).

And as an added bonus, it will make work a lot more fun.