You do that well! The power of the compliment

The knowledge that a compliment works!
It often takes some soul searching - especially when things are not going so well - but don't let that deter you. The power of the compliment is enormous. Research from Japan has shown that people who are complimented, perform better than those who receive no compliments. In the study, 48 subjects were asked to press as many single keys in succession as possible on a keyboard within 30 seconds. The subjects were then divided into three groups. In one of the groups, the subjects received a personal compliment. Those in the other two groups did not. The first group performed significantly better than the rest at the same exercise on the second day. Scientist Norihiro Sadato says of the study, "For our brain, receiving a compliment is the same social reward as receiving money. Handing out compliments can be an easy and effective strategy in the classroom, for example."

Receiving compliments activates a part of the brain associated with reward. The amount of dopamine increases, which makes you feel good. Dopamine enhances memory. So a complimenting boss could also induce better employee performance. Dopamine or not: it remains to be seen whether we really need scientific evidence to know that a sincere compliment works. Just think back to a moment when you received a nice compliment from a colleague or family member about what you had been working on for a while. "You did a great job organizing that!" or "You must have put a lot of work into it.” It can be so nice to get a compliment. Especially if you feel that others hadn't noticed how hard you are working on something, or if you are uncertain about something.

I don't have time for that right now!
Despite the fact that we know (both from science and from our own experience) how powerful a compliment can be, it turns out that it is not always easy to give one to those around you. It's slimy or we simply don't think we have time for it. Deadlines, full workdays and stress make it seem as if compliments only slow us down. After all, you always have to do better. That's why you often only get an email telling you that the report you worked on until two in the morning, needs to be improved, without sharing what was good about it.

No half-measures
A real compliment goes beyond a trick ("Yes, nicely done! Say, I was thinking: I think there's a mistake in the calculation!") or an empty compliment ("Thanks for coming. Good to have you here, because there is a downward trend in sales.") No, this is about a full compliment. Every day during the training sessions at The Speech Republic, we notice the power of the (sincere) compliment. The speaker literally looks at his audience differently if he first thought about what he actually likes about them. The audience he is addressing enjoys being seen f their qualities! Now that's what called a win-win situation.

So even if the problem and lesser performance is on the tip of your tongue: think again. Think about what compliments you can legitimately give to the person you are talking to and share it with them!