What Is Your Acknowledgement Strategy?
Article by Herb Rubenstein
Introduction
Everyone knows that leaders have a duty to acknowledge others. We all should acknowledge the successes and failures of those around us and we should do it in a timely manner. However, not many of us or our leaders actually have a written, clearly thought out, acknowledgment strategy.
Strategies do not need to be in writing. However, it is very helpful to put things in writing so others can learn from us and we can improve on a strategy by reading it numerous times and reflecting on it with the intention of improving on it.
The purpose of this article is to suggest that you develop a coherent acknowledgment strategy, put it in writing, and share it with others for their review and comment. You might be surprised how coherent your actual acknowledgment strategy is even though you have never been formally asked the question, “What is Your Acknowledgement Strategy? Or, you might realize you have a lot of work to do in creating a coherent acknowledgment strategy.
Different or Inconsistent Acknowledgement Strategies Can Lead to Severe Conflict and Organizational Dysfunction
We don’t often think of acknowledgment strategies as a source of conflict, but they can be. Take for example what recently happened in Italy regarding a Choir. One stellar performer in the choir is a leader in her profession and has a clear acknowledgment strategy. It is:
1. Be respectful
2. Be accurate
3. Acknowledge early and often
4. Be positive and constructive
5. Offer to work with the person to improve when there is a deficiency
6. Build rapport with the person to whom the acknowledgment is given
7. Give acknowledgment (also known more generically as “feedback”) in a cooperative manner
8. Listen carefully to how the person being acknowledged responds to the acknowledgment
9. Be empathetic
These nine elements guide her giving of acknowledgment in a coherent way.
However, her choir director has a different acknowledgment strategy. Now, while this choir director had never written down her acknowledgment strategy, a discussion between her and the choir members she leads revealed clearly the contours of the Choir Director’s terrible acknowledgment strategy. The Choir Director’s real acknowledgment strategy is described below. It may sound familiar to the acknowledgment strategy used by some of your bosses.
1. Rarely say anything positive about the work of others
2. Find as much fault as possible with the work of others
3. Criticize, even in public, the work of others
4. Humiliate people in front of their peers by singling out people
5. When something goes wrong, blame others
6. Hold herself blameless for the “failure” of others or the organization
7. Set impossible to meet standards, and when they are met, move the goal posts to keep others reaching to meet her ever-changing standards
8. Never be constructive
9. Provide acknowledgment in a most argumentative, I am right. “You are wrong” manner.
10. Act as if you care nothing about the feeling of others
11. Seek to make people cower to you by the way you acknowledge them.
\While you may think, no one has such a terrible acknowledgment strategy, as a management and leadership researcher, I can attest that this “terrible acknowledgment strategy,” is not only alive and well today in Italy, it is prevalent around the world and manifested daily by certain “world leaders.”
You might guess that the choir members “will not take it anymore,” and some in this choir are contemplating leaving the choir. Organizational dysfunction is now ripe and will likely lead to the end of this choir.
Your Acknowledgement Strategy Is A Defining Characteristic Of Your Leadership Capability
Baby boomers (people in their 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s) who run the world’s economy complain that millennials always want “positive reinforcement.” Actually, millennials want accurate acknowledgment, but baby boomers who either don’t have an acknowledgment strategy or have the one used by the choir director, completely misunderstand the millennials. They want their managers and leaders to have a great acknowledgment strategy and they deserve nothing less.
Conclusion
Analyze what your acknowledgment strategy has been and write down that strategy honestly. Then, improve it. You will not only become a better leader, but you may also reduce organizational dysfunction.
In my experience, far too few management consultants focus on poor acknowledgment strategies by managers and leaders as a significant cause of organizational dysfunction. However, the choir in Italy is a great example of the problems can be caused by employing a poor acknowledgment strategy.
Finally, many leaders are unconscious of their actual “acknowledgment strategy.” If they are, give them this article since “talking about” someone’s “acknowledgment strategy,” especially a “boss’s acknowledgment strategy” when it is deeply flawed is very difficult. And, the more terrible the boss’s acknowledgment strategy is, the harder it is for an “underling” to bring this up to the boss because of the legitimate fear that that “old acknowledgment strategy of the boss” will come down immediately on the head of the person raising the issue.
If a poor acknowledgment strategy is not brought up to the level of consciousness by a careful observer to a possibly oblivious boss, there is no hope for improvement in the organization. An unconscious or terrible acknowledgment strategy can cause substantial damage to an organization. Write down your acknowledgment strategy. It will pay many dividends and will be appreciated by those with whom you work and interact.