Better Positive Feedback
Generic Praise Pitfalls
If your team knows you're going to say something nice no matter what, and then you offer a positive but contentless comment, you've essentially said nothing at all.
Consider this scenario:
You always pair critical feedback with a generic positive comment like "You're doing a great job overall."
Your team members come to expect this phrase, regardless of their actual performance.
Because they hear similar praise across a wide range of performance levels, they gain little concrete information about their work or how you truly feel about it.
This isn’t much better than just giving the critical feedback on its own.
Of course, the solution isn't to stop giving positive feedback (and there's even a time for non-specific positives)! It's to make feedback specific, honest, and informative.
If your positive feedback contains very little information, you should expect it to provide very little reassurance. In the extreme case - predictably saying the same generic positive regardless of your overall assessment - your positive feedback doesn't give any information, and it's not really feedback at all.
Honesty is the best policy
Honesty is the foundation of effective feedback, whether positive or negative. If people can't trust your praise, they won't trust your criticism either. Give specific positive feedback, and only give feedback you think is genuinely true.
This might seem obvious, but it's surprisingly easy to fall into the trap of exaggeration or false praise, especially when you're trying to balance negative feedback. Don't.
If you can't think of anything positive to say, don't make something up. It's okay to take time to find genuine positives, and it's ok for them to be about everyday things. Set aside dedicated time if needed. If a teammate is struggling, either with motivation or with performance, you should expect to spend longer than usual on generating positive feedback for them, rather than giving feedback that's less specific or less true.
This doesn't mean you need to be harsh. It's rare that someone is doing everything poorly. Find the things they're doing well, even if they're small, and highlight those. Honesty in positive feedback isn't just about avoiding lies. It's about putting in the effort to notice and articulate what's genuinely praiseworthy.
Caring about specific credit
Ideally, positive feedback should reinforce behaviors and actions you want to see more of. Think about the choices and actions which led to good outcomes. Credit those, rather than focusing on the good outcome.
Compare these two pieces of feedback:
"That call went really well."
"Starting the call with a clear agenda helped it feel smooth and professional, nice job preparing the outline."
The second highlights a specific decision that led to success. It tells the person something they did well and should repeat.
The key difference is between "this piece of work was good" and "your choices made this piece of work good." Strive for the latter when you can.
That said, don't let perfect be the enemy of good. As long as you're following the advice on honesty and giving genuine feedback, it's fine if not every piece of praise is maximally specific. Feedback frequency matters a lot for motivation.
Making this Manageable
Giving good positive feedback takes effort - but I think that the time spent is typically well worth it. Like most skills, it’s something that gets easier with practice.
You don't need to revamp your entire feedback approach overnight. Try out a few small changes, pay attention to how your team responds, and assess how sustainable the practice feels for you. What changes do you notice?
To help you get started, here are some practical ways to make better positive feedback more manageable:
Keep a feedback document. When you notice someone has done something well, jot it down (if you can’t say it immediately). This creates a repository of specific, genuine praise you can draw from.
When you’re trying to think of feedback, look for core job responsibilities. Often, the things someone does well every day get overlooked. Pay attention to these consistent behaviors and acknowledge them.
Set aside dedicated time. If you're struggling to find positives, especially for a team member who's having difficulties, allocate more time to think it through. Don't settle for less genuine or less specific feedback.
Ask yourself: "What would I want them to repeat?" This question can help you focus on specific, actionable behaviors rather than general traits or outcomes.
Use regular check-ins. Having a weekly slot for feedback ensures consistency and helps build the habit.
This doesn’t have to be complicated, my one-on-ones simply have a section like this, which gets filled out before every meeting:
one1 piece of feedback for [manager]:
one piece of feedback for [report]:
Prompts:
What’s one thing they did this week that was helpful/you’d like to see more of?
What’s one thing that you’d have liked to see this week which didn’t happen?
Remember, the goal isn't to manufacture praise, but to notice and articulate the genuine positives that might otherwise go unacknowledged.
Not Just Nice Things
The next time you're writing positive feedback, pause for a moment. Ask yourself: "If I received this feedback, what would it imply about my actions going forward?"
If the answer isn't clear, you might just be saying nice things.
Saying nice things is good (as long as they are true). So it's still worth sending that message!
But maybe don't cross "give positive feedback" off your to-do list quite yet.
In practice, this is an “at least one”, not an “exactly one”