The impact of faint praise

Dear Bob ...

I just received an e-mail from my manager. Here's the complete text:

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Forwarded From:  Manager

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My interpretation of the chain of e-mails is that the CEO is thanking the CIO for a significant achievement.  The CIO then passed the message to managers without comment.  And finally, my manager passed it on to staff with the message we get most often in e-mails from her... "FYI."

 

Am I wrong to expect more from the CIO and manager?  Shouldn't they add some sort of motivational thanks or something to the message as they pass it along?  Unfortunately, this is just one example of the routine communication coming down from above.  I can't count the number of e-mails I get each month with nothing but "FYI" added.  It is a very demotivating environment.

 

- Disheartened

Dear Disheartened ...

No, you aren't wrong. But I'd like to contrast two perspectives of this situation: The view from "north" (leader) to "south" (staff) and the view from "south" to "north."

North to south first: The most useful motivator in business is the desire for approval. Just about everyone values praise. It costs nothing to give. And so long as it's meaningful - specific, a response to significant achievement, and sincere - it's pretty durable as well.

Contrast "Please share with your staff," and "FYI" with what the CIO could have said, in an e-mail sent directly to everyone in the IS division:

" I just received this message from the CEO. In case it isn't entirely clear: The Balanced Scorecard is the set of measures everyone from the CEO on down uses to assess our performance as a company. It integrates financial and non-financial measures so we get a complete picture of how we're doing.

I'll share the whole Balanced Scorecard in another message, but I didn't want to wait to share this news. It's official. IS isn't just doing a great job - the whole company recognizes that we're doing a great job.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you, and every other member of the division for your efforts. My own role in making this happen is relatively small. It's the management team, and even more it's the dedicated, professional work performed by every member of the staff, that's led to this outstanding result.