This continues a series on advice for new top editors in Digital First Media newsrooms. Some of the advice might be good for veteran editors, too, and for editors in other companies.
One of the most important things a top editor does is praise people specifically for doing good work. I have heard more than one editor dismiss the value of praise, saying they don’t praise people just for doing their jobs. They don’t understand how to praise and they don’t understand the power of praise as a leadership technique.
When I was at the American Press Institute, I collected data that underscored the value of praise. Before some of our seminars for editors, I would ask the participants and their staffs parallel questions about the editors’ leadership practices. Two factors relating to praise stood out from those questionnaires of more than 100 editors and their staffs:
- The editors who are generous with praise (according to themselves and their staffs) are also the most inspiring editors. While I encountered lots of editors who dismissed the value of praise, I don’t recall one who didn’t consider himself or herself to be inspiring to the staff. I’m not saying that the praise is what inspires, but the failure to praise certainly harms the potential to inspire. And in one case, where an editor wrote on the email questionnaire that he didn’t praise people for doing their jobs, I could document that his staff felt discouraged, rather than inspired, when they talked to him.
- However much you think you praise, your staff thinks you praise less. I would ask people to score the frequency of praise on a scale of 1 to 5. Whether you rated yourself high or low, your staff invariably rated you a point or so lower. Editors who gave themselves 5s for regular praise got 4s from their staffs and editors who acknowledged with 2s that they seldom praised got 1s from their staffs, who didn’t remember any praise. So praise the staff more than you feel comfortable praising.
Praise is one of a new editor’s most important daily chores. However busy you get, take a few minutes to deliver specific praise to the staff members who have best served your community or executed your priorities that day.
I’m not talking here about vague “good work” praise, which can feel phony, insincere and counterproductive. I’m talking about specific praise that tells the person what succeeded and why. Specific praise tells people you actually noticed their work. It underscores your priorities and reinforces progress toward the goals you’ve communicated to your staff. As I’ve noted, I made Twitter and liveblogging high priorities for my staff, so when staff members excelled in tweeting or liveblogging, they heard specific praise from the editor about why that liveblog or series of tweets worked.
I’ve heard some good editors and leadership trainers say that you should praise publicly and criticize privately. I think that oversimplifies. Sometimes you should praise publicly. But sometimes a handwritten note or a personal face-to-face discussion in your office or at her desk is more powerful. I think you should vary your praise approach.
I get almost embarrassed thinking how good I felt after receiving a handwritten note from an editor after hustling effectively on a big story. I didn’t want to give my editors that much control over my emotions. But the praise mattered to me (more than I acknowledged to the editor). Lurking within nearly every journalist is a tiny sliver of a first-grader who loves getting a star from the teacher (even if they’ll never let you know).
In difficult times, praise is especially valuable because you may not be able to reward excellent performance with the pay raise or bonus that the journalist deserves. Praise is no substitute for tangible compensation, and you should praise specifically even if your organization is prospering.
But sincere, specific praise is a reward you can afford every day. Spend it liberally while you’re fighting and/or waiting to be able to be able to pay your staff better.
Of course, some of your staff members don’t deserve praise. That’s why the next post in this series (coming Monday) will address criticism.
*I’m pretty sure the phrase “praise is free but priceless” is not original to me. It sounds like something I heard somewhere. I Googled it hoping to attribute and couldn’t locate an original source.
Twitter responses
@stevebuttry One creative way when you don’t have money for bonuses etc. is a Kudos bar along with a handwritten note. #advice4editors
— Buffy Andrews (@Buffyandrews) May 3, 2013
@stevebuttry Also, could praise weekly/monthly w/Doing it Right Awards. Have trophy that moves from staffer to staffer. #advice4editors
— Buffy Andrews (@Buffyandrews) May 3, 2013
@stevebuttry I try my best to praise publicly, and try to emphasize that what one person does really makes the whole team better.
— Luis Hernandez (@Luisindc18) May 3, 2013
@stevebuttry If I ever become an editor, I’ll really try to keep it in mind. And interesting to see what a lack of praise can do to morale.
— Karen K. Ho (@karenkho) May 3, 2013
Great advice from @stevebuttry on why editors need to offer *specific* praise. (Useful outside the newsroom too) bit.ly/10wM6lv
— Lisa Fung (@lfung) May 3, 2013
@stevebuttry: Praise – specifically, specific praise – beats money as a management tool bit.ly/18znuxq
— jmara (@jmara) May 3, 2013
Related reading
Jill Geisler’s The No-News Manager
Jill Geisler’s What Great Bosses Know about Praise
Jill Geisler’s 5 ‘praise erasers’ reveal how bosses undermine positive feedback
Jill Geisler’s What Great Bosses Know about Feedback (I’m quoted)
Edward Miller’s Be Careful With Praise
Earlier posts with advice for editors
How do your daily budgets reflect multi-platform planning needs?
What new beats would help newsrooms cover local news better?
Why editors should be active on Twitter
The Buttry version of social media best practices for editors
How the crowd can save your career
Leading your staff into the Twitterverse
Mentors don’t always see their seeds blossom
Upcoming topics
Here are topics I am planning on covering in this series (the order is tentative). What other topics should I cover?
- Criticism
- Humility
- Accuracy and accountability
- Standing up for your staff
- Ethics
- Meetings
- Training
- The power of questions
- Respecting authorship
- Teamwork
- Face-to-face communication
- Personal life
- Time management
- Mobile
- Developing new leaders
- Diversity
- Hiring
- The editor’s blog
- Role models
- Fun
The posts probably will run daily Monday-Friday for the next few weeks. If you’re another Digital First editor (or a leader or former leader in another organization) and would like to propose a guest post as part of the series, email me at sbuttry (at) digitalfirstmedia (dot) com and we’ll discuss. I’m not interested in a post of general leadership tips. I’d rather have a post on a particular leadership topic. Feel free to suggest a post that might address a topic I’ve already covered, but from a different perspective. I welcome posts that disagree with my advice. I will invite a few editors I respect to write posts.
Totally agree with this and it’s something every editor/manager needs to remember. Too often we think it but don’t say it. In these tight times, where I don’t have the budget to give bonuses or gift cards etc. to recognize great work, I try to come up with other things. Sometimes it’s a handwritten note. Sometimes it’s a treat for the staff at a staff meeting (like an ice-cream cake) and sometimes it’s a Kudos bar on each staffer’s desk. What I’ve found over the years is that while everyone likes a little more in their wallet, what they really appreciate is validation of how hard they are working. You’re right, deep inside we are first-graders who still jump for joy when we get that shiny star from the teacher. Even me:)
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“I get almost embarrassed thinking how good I felt after receiving a handwritten note from an editor after hustling effectively on a big story.”
Zackly. When I got my first review here at the Marin IJ, I carried a hardcopy around with me for weeks, I was so jazzed. When you get that positive jolt of energy, seems like it sparks off creative ideas and gets you going.
Also want to reinforce the idea of specific praise. Being told I’m doing a good job is awesome, being told I have a way with sources helps me capitalize on my assets. With all this in mind, I would like to praise this post 🙂
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Thanks, Janis! I’m embarrassed at how good your praise makes me feel. 🙂
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