Praise in Public

by Carol
(Detroit, MI USA)

I hold office meetings every other week. It's just an hour of time for the people who report to me to check-in and go over what they might be working on that needs a little support, or share a success that they want everyone to know about.

I start this meeting every two weeks with something that I call "acknowledgments". Anyone can acknowledge anyone else for something "above and beyond" that the person has done in the past two weeks. It is praise of the highest form, because it comes from a peer and because it is done in public.

At first, I thought that the office would think this was artificial, but people come every two weeks with something nice to say about someone else. If I happen to forget to kick off the meeting in this way, no one hesitates to remind me.