Positive feedback doesn’t happen often enough. The key is to learn exactly what positive feedback is, and how to deliver it, so that it becomes habit – muscle memory – to find opportunities to offer it.

Positive Feedback is a bit more complex to get right. When you see an employee doing something you would like them to keep doing or repeat in the future, the idea is to reinforce that behavior. In order to do so, you must be:

• Timely – as close to the observation of the behavior or action as possible.
• Specific – name exactly the action or behavior you want to reinforce.
• Behavior – focus on the action or activity of the employee – not the motivation behind it, or even the outcome.
• Desirable – make sure it is the behavior you want to reinforce, not just the outcome.
• Repeatable – if the idea is to get more of it, it must be something that the employee has control over – not just a lucky happenstance.

These are the 5 key elements of proper positive feedback. Negative feedback identifies and discourages undesirable behavior. Constructive feedback focuses on coaching and changing negative behavior. So, positive feedback is the reinforcement of a job well done!