Appreciation is encouraging, but can they become destructive?
Updated: Feb 25, 2021
One would not disagree with this statement that more praises after a while might be a bit destructive, in terms of our perspective towards working.
Sugar is one of the most important ingredients required for our body and gives us energy in a good way, but what if we use it in excess? The answer is known to everyone. The same analogy applies to appreciations too.
To start with, appreciation is the prime motivation for us to work harder, to stay positively, and achieve our goals. As others praise us, it builds more confidence in our abilities and at the same time, we believe that we are moving in the right direction. Above all, recognition is something everyone craves for, irrespective of their talent, and receiving that makes us stay on cloud nine.
So Why Appreciation affect us badly?
Personal Affect- i) The primary reason for such effect of appreciation is that they actually boost our ego in a negative way. As more and more people appreciate, we tend to become more egoistic. We become overconfident that we stop listening to others, and others’ suggestions. Sooner or later it affects us and could lead to our downfall. ii) Confidence becomes overconfidence in no time, and that is the beginning. You getting carried away with the admiration you get is what one needs to get in control of.
The Marketing Aspect- Many times, people use appreciation as a marketing strategy. Even though, best management principles advise the use of appreciation to only lighten up the mood and align the customer for effective discussion, many marketing/sales agents go beyond it and turn it up into flattery and take advantage of situations. Not only in marketing/sales, people who want to take advantage turn appreciations into flattery. Many of us don’t understand the difference and concede to their tactics.
The Team Aspect- Too much appreciation for one person can lead to jealousy and demotivation in other team members. Sometimes, teams already are not in good spirits, for various reasons. Some members consider others to be their competitors or enemies. In such cases, too much appreciation on out-performer can lead to jealousy. Instead of looking for improvements, others look for ways to degrade the stature of the outperform and see how his performance degrades.
It is like - if you can’t run faster, makes others run slower so that you become first.
In the end, appreciations do have some detrimental effects. Especially, when the team members are not aligned properly, make sure your appreciations are balanced, keep the out-performer encouraging, and at the same time does not instill jealousy in others;
Side-by-side help others grow through your guidance so that they focus on their growth and feel motivated, rather than getting demotivated by others' growth.