Praise is particularly important when you have staff learning new skills and knowledge.

It’s easy to pick out what’s going wrong.

Instead, give praise and encouragement when people are first learning.

Focus on what they are doing right. 

The learner will feel like they are making progress and they know what to continue doing, both of which help with ongoing motivation.


Once some things are going well, then choose one new thing to focus on:

“OK, you’ve really nailed that first part. Let’s focus on C next – particularly think about doing it like this”

Or

“You’re going really well on the first two steps. The next step is X and the key thing to focus on here is Y.”

We all get energised when we feel we’re on track and doing well!