<story><title>When your coworker does great work, tell their manager (2020)</title><url>https://jvns.ca/blog/2020/07/14/when-your-coworker-does-great-work-tell-their-manager/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>whatshisface</author><text>&amp;gt;&lt;i&gt;“I really liked how you tackled this, have you thought about this approach?” Instead of “Why didn’t you do it this way?”&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;That crosses the line by lying, I think it would be better to say &amp;quot;I think it would be better if you did it this way.&amp;quot; It&amp;#x27;s bad to call them stupid or make a superfluous claim of objectivity, but you don&amp;#x27;t need to pretend to smile and praise.</text></item><item><author>gabereiser</author><text>&amp;gt;Ask if it’s ok first…&lt;p&gt;This is very astute. Not everyone likes getting praise in public settings or they might not want their micromanaging manager to know they helped you outside the scope of their work. You should be cognizant of when praise should be given (i.e. when is it appropriate) and in what context as mentioned in the article.&lt;p&gt;That said, if you aren’t thanking and praising your colleagues for doing good work - YTA of the team. If you are calling out your colleagues for doing bad work, or not the way you would do it work, you should try to rephrase into praise w&amp;#x2F; direction. “I really liked how you tackled this, have you thought about this approach?” Instead of “Why didn’t you do it this way?”&lt;p&gt;*edit*
There’s a whole bunch of interesting information on why behavioral praise is better than outcome praise. Here’s a video about it I find sums it up perfectly (though it’s geared towards how it relates to children) &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;59gx55bNunU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;59gx55bNunU&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rqtwteye</author><text>“I really liked how you tackled this, have you thought about this approach?”&lt;p&gt;I hate this because it’s usually just a shit sandwich. “Great work. Actually it sucked. Keep going.”</text></comment>
<story><title>When your coworker does great work, tell their manager (2020)</title><url>https://jvns.ca/blog/2020/07/14/when-your-coworker-does-great-work-tell-their-manager/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>whatshisface</author><text>&amp;gt;&lt;i&gt;“I really liked how you tackled this, have you thought about this approach?” Instead of “Why didn’t you do it this way?”&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;That crosses the line by lying, I think it would be better to say &amp;quot;I think it would be better if you did it this way.&amp;quot; It&amp;#x27;s bad to call them stupid or make a superfluous claim of objectivity, but you don&amp;#x27;t need to pretend to smile and praise.</text></item><item><author>gabereiser</author><text>&amp;gt;Ask if it’s ok first…&lt;p&gt;This is very astute. Not everyone likes getting praise in public settings or they might not want their micromanaging manager to know they helped you outside the scope of their work. You should be cognizant of when praise should be given (i.e. when is it appropriate) and in what context as mentioned in the article.&lt;p&gt;That said, if you aren’t thanking and praising your colleagues for doing good work - YTA of the team. If you are calling out your colleagues for doing bad work, or not the way you would do it work, you should try to rephrase into praise w&amp;#x2F; direction. “I really liked how you tackled this, have you thought about this approach?” Instead of “Why didn’t you do it this way?”&lt;p&gt;*edit*
There’s a whole bunch of interesting information on why behavioral praise is better than outcome praise. Here’s a video about it I find sums it up perfectly (though it’s geared towards how it relates to children) &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;59gx55bNunU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;59gx55bNunU&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>gabereiser</author><text>Let’s break down your version: “I think it would be better if…” You start with an opinion. That’s going to cause any listener to put up their guard. It’s the beginning of any sort of confrontations. By saying “Thank you for the effort…” you are acknowledging the work they put into it and showing empathy by seeing their work they have done. If it isn’t correct, either it should have been course corrected by management or volunteer for the next one. If you think something should be done a certain away across the board, create a brown bag or lunch and learn where you evangelize it and get consensus.&lt;p&gt;You aren’t lying when you give praise about someone’s effort (unless they gave none, in which case why are you praising to begin with?), you would be lying if you said “You did a great job” when the solution is potentially tech debt for later. It’s a matter of communication and human behavior.&lt;p&gt;You wouldn’t praise someone by saying “I think it could be better”.</text></comment>