10 Things to Say Instead of Good Job by Suzanne Lucas
We want to be positive. Well, some of us want to be positive. I want to be positive. But, sometimes, the only thing that comes out of my mouth is “good job!” This is a lovely thing to say, but it’s not very specific, and it’s not very helpful. Sure, it’s praise (and unspecific praise is better than no praise–as long as it’s honest), but it would be better if we thought through what we are saying a little bit more.
Here are some ideas to get you going on supporting your employees (and family members, and friends!):
1. That was so creative. How did you come up with that idea? This is helpful because it not only praises the person; it lets them know you are interested in what they did. People love to talk about themselves, and this opens up the door for them to do that. Good feelings all around.
Michael Sauers is the Director of Logan Library in Logan, UT. Prior to this he was one of the founding staff and Technology Manager for Do Space in Omaha, NE. After earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany's School of Information Science and Policy Michael spent his first 20 years as a librarian training other librarians in technology along with time as a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, a technology consultant, and a bookseller. He has written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and has published 14 books ranging from library technology, blogging, Web design, and an index to a popular horror magazine. In his spare time, he blogs at TravelinLibrarian.info, runs The Collector's Guide to Dean Koontz website at CollectingKoontz.com, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
Unless otherwise stated, all opinions are my own and are not to be considered those of the City of Logan, UT.
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