How to Stand Out at Work: Give Praise to Others

With half of the work year behind us and mid year performance reviews to look forward to shortly, now is the perfect time to discuss how to stand out at work. Whether you are hoping for a raise or a promotion in the upcoming year, learning to stand out from your coworkers is an important step to bigger and better things in your professional life. How to Stand Out at Work will be a 5 week series where we discuss different ways to improve your image to set yourself up for success.

Give Praise to Others

If you are trying to get ahead at work, it may seem counterproductive to share praise with others, especially when you are trying to stand out yourself, but it will actually help you to cultivate yourself as a leader. Don’t get me wrong, it is very important that you be seeking out ways to get praise from your superiors in order to show that you are a good worker and worthy of advancement, but being a team player means sharing the spotlight. No one wants to promote someone who is always looking out for themselves and for their own self-interest. Of course, everyone is doing those things as they are expected, but team players and leaders are more likely to advance and be seen in a positive light.

Think about it, although you may be very good at your job and getting work done and projects accomplished, you most likely needed the help and support of others to get you there, and acknowledging that is a very important thing. In the workplace, a staggering number of employees claim that they are under appreciated, you yourself may feel that same way. How would you feel about a coworker who took the time to thank you for doing your job and perhaps even went so far as to acknowledge your help and sing your praises to others? You would most likely feel indebted to that individual and perhaps be motivated to continue assisting them in the future. And that’s the magical connection! When you praise others, others want to help you and support you more!

So, I challenge you to think about the people around you at work who support you in getting your job and your tasks done. Next time you see them, make sure to thank them for what they have done for you and give them positive praise when speaking to others. You may think that if you don’t praise them in their presence they won’t hear about it, but don’t worry they will! One of the great things about praise is that it spreads like wildfire and will certainly get back to the ear of your subject! Of course, public praise is also a great way to acknowledge people, although we don’t often get many opportunities to do this. So, if you do have the opportunity to praise someone in a meeting or in a large gathering of coworkers, by all means go for it! Just don’t let the lack of a public stage for your praise stand in the way of you giving it! Even private conversations with supervisors or coworkers are great times to give praise to others and help you stand out as a leader and a team player!