 Sports have a lot to teach us about many things—including the best way to offer praise. Speaking on NPR, L. Jon Wertheim, executive editor of Sports Illustrated, and Tufts psychologist Sam Sommers, the authors of This is Your Brain On Sports, weighed in on the subject.
Both authors happen to coach their kids’ sports teams, and both are opposed to the “everyone gets a participation trophy” style of recognition. Citing a study in which University of Notre Dame researchers tested praise's efficacy on a losing college hockey team, Wertheim and Sommers contend that the more specific praise is, the greater its impact. “Praise the hustle, the effort, the process,” they advise, and avoid generic praise like “good job” or “you’re smart.” (The hockey team, whose players were specifically complimented on the number of times they checked an opponent, made it into the playoffs). Whether dealing with children, or adults on organizational teams, the lesson applies universally. Be specific in your praise, compliment the level of effort, and notice the details of achievement. The results breed far more self-confidence than a generic “good job participation trophy”—and praiseworthy efforts are likely to continue. We want to hear: What’s a piece of memorable praise that you’ve received? What’s an example of high impact praise that you’ve given? To join the conversation, click "comments" on our Community of Practice Forum. If you would like to read more about creating a habit around masterful communication, check out our book: Be Quiet, Be Heard: The Paradox of Persuasion.
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 We have written earlier about how effective storytelling is in business. Because stories engage our emotions, they are, as numerous studies have shown, the most memorable kind of content—far more so than cold, hard data. We typically hear examples of stories used in marketing, branding, or public relations. But storytelling can also help us imagine the future and help guide teams through long-term changes.
Writing in Fast Company, Patti Sanchez, coauthor of Illuminate: Ignite Change Through Speeches, Stories, Ceremonies, and Symbols, says, “the most successful business leaders…don’t just see a new business strategy, organizational change, or product launch as an initiative to be executed. They see it as an epic journey, marked by moments of triumph as well as moments of defeat.” In other words, they present their organization’s challenge as a quest, using the classic mythic structure that has shaped the tales of heroic journeys: a call to adventure, rising to a series of tests, and emerging victorious with newfound wisdom. But Sanchez points out that it’s not enough for leaders to narrate a quest from solely their point of view. Her advice—with which we wholeheartedly agree: “Listen to your fellow travelers to understand how they’re experiencing the journey, and gather stories that are meaningful to them. Then, use that information to create a narrative so they’ll feel as motivated as you are to press onward. That way, it will be their story, too—though as a leader, it’s your responsibility to tell it. We want to hear: Does your organization have a “quest-like” story that you would like to share? To join the conversation, click "comments" on our Community of Practice Forum. If you would like to read more about creating a habit around masterful communication, check out our book: Be Quiet, Be Heard: The Paradox of Persuasion.  Some bosses do more than build great organizations; they groom great talent. Sydney Finkelstein, Dartmouth Business School professor and author of Superbosses: How Exceptional leaders Manage the Flow of Talent started researching this phenomenon a decade ago when he noticed that “[as many as half] the top people in a given industry…once worked for the same well-known leader.”
Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Finkelstein noted that these leaders have a hands-on leadership style that is highly effective in developing those who work for them. They:
Superbosses take a long view and a deep interest in the people they hire. Maintaining relationships with ex-employees sets superbosses up for all sorts of follow-on opportunities, such as developing business partnerships. We want to hear: Have you ever worked for a superboss, or do you consider yourself one? How do you think superbosses lead in a way that is different than that of the typical boss? Can you give us an example? To join the conversation, click "comments" on our Community of Practice Forum. If you would like to read more about creating a habit around masterful communication, check out our book: Be Quiet, Be Heard: The Paradox of Persuasion.  New studies demonstrate that multilingual exposure improves not only children’s cognitive skills but also their social abilities.
One study, from the Cornell developmental psychology lab of Professor Katherine Kinzler, presented 4 to 6-year-olds from different linguistic backgrounds with a situation in which they had to consider someone else’s perspective to understand their meaning. For example, an adult said to the child: “Ooh, a small car! Can you move the small car for me?” Children could see three cars — small, medium and large — but were in position to observe that the adult could not see the smallest car. Since the adult could see only the medium and large cars, when the adult said “small” car, she must be referring to the child’s “medium.” Bilingual children were better than monolinguals at moving the car the adult meant. This pattern was repeated in a follow up study of 14 to 16-month-olds who were shown two bananas, one of which was visible to both the infant and an adult, the other visible to the baby yet hidden from the adult’s view. When the adult asked the baby for “the banana” bilinguals would reach most often for the banana the adult could see. “If you think about it,” writes Kinzler, “this makes intuitive sense. Interpreting someone’s utterance often requires attending not just to its content, but also to the surrounding context. What does a speaker know or not know? What did she intend to convey? Children in multilingual environments have social experiences that provide routine practice in considering the perspectives of others.” We want to hear: Are you bilingual, or do you know someone who is? Do you agree that speaking in more than one language hones the ability to consider other points of view—and can you give an example? To join the conversation, click "comments" on our Community of Practice Forum. If you would like to read more about creating a habit around masterful communication, check out our book: Be Quiet, Be Heard: The Paradox of Persuasion. |
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