Say nice things, get good results

I've been off the map here for a while. I apologize. It's been a long winter, but if finally looks like spring has arrived here in Vermont.

I had a meeting the other day with our Director of Marketing. I had asked to meet with her she really understands Web 2.0 and I needed a sounding board with some ideas that I had for the future. We talked for a while, and then she told me that I was doing a good job and had done some great work this year.

That felt good. It had been a while since someone had said, "Drew, you're doing a good job. Keep it up."

It also got me thinking. It's easy to brush off the work that people do without passing a compliment. It's usually easier to criticize rather than praise, and it's easy to take coworkers for granted.

I think I've written about this before, but I see a lot of similarity between managing and coaching. I have much more experience with the latter and little with the former, but I have bee a leader on sports teams in high school and college, and I consider myself a leader in our office. So perhaps I should be writing more about leading rather than managing.

It is not easy to keep a fresh perspective and give a "good job" to those that you work with, but spreading the love like that keeps the workplace a happy place.

P.S. These posts will get better. I need to get back in blogging shape.