Encouragement Works Better Than Criticism

Positive Encouragement Works Better Than Criticism

Manisha Goel

Emotions can greatly impact an employee's productivity. That is why a happy, satisfied and secure person works much better than someone who feels worried, insecure and stressed. Negative emotions like fear, anxiety, frustration and stress narrow hamper your cognitive abilities, hinder one's focus and affects one's concentration. But positive emotions do just the opposite and help improve concentration, focus and intellectual abilities.

Encouraging a positive environment in the office is bound to ensure productivity boost. Needless to say, a happy and satisfied person works better than an insecure person who feels scared and stressed.

How positive encouragement helps

Positive reinforcement is a simple technique that immediately changes the behavior of the person concerned. Human brain works in a positive way when it sees acceptance and a positive environment around it. Moreover, an employee's productivity gets a boost when he/she feels happy and upbeat. The employee is more likely to perform better in tasks that require brainstorming and will come up with new ideas for improvement. An employee who receives positive encouragement does not fear to take initiatives that will improve his/her contribution and productivity.

Criticism mounts when a team leader or employer sees undesired behavior and want to correct the same, but doesn't know how to resolve it. In such a situation, harsh criticism won't get the desired result as the leader does not have a specific solution that can resolve the issue.

Criticism often leads to negative emotions. Whenever there is anger, frustration, fear, anxiety and stress, employees are less likely to focus on work and their intellectual abilities decrease. Negative emotions will take over and the person will struggle to think clearly, won't be able to co-ordinate well with others and won't feel enthusiastic about new ideas and projects. Negative emotions can affect his daily routine, reducing productivity in the process.

How you communicate matters a lot
How things are communicated to an employee would matter most in terms of impact. In fact, the tone of the message could have more impact than the actual message itself. When negative feedback is shared with a warm tone, the employee takes it as positive interaction. On the other hand, some good news or feedback shared with a negative tone could upset the employee. Therefore, to perform well at work, it is important to be upbeat and happy.

Things to do for better productivity

Make these important changes in your behavior to perform better at work:

1. Listen and show empathy
Make your colleagues feel comfortable by your understanding and listening abilities. You should try and nurture a supportive and problem-solving attitude towards your team.

2. Be a caring colleague
Listen to your colleagues carefully and keep a tab on what they are feeling. A negative person will spread negativity among others. Therefore, to control negative emotions prevailing in the team, simply listen to your team-mates and help them offload their tension and frustration.

3. Have healthy interpersonal relations
Try to improve your relations with your team-members, especially if you are in a big team where you may not be able to interact with all your colleagues on a daily basis. Also, encourage each member of your team to have healthy relations with each other that will ensure a positive work environment.