Praising employees for work that felt easy to them can backfire. Only 28% of workers feel their leaders recognize their real accomplishments. Ask top performers to email you their proudest moments from the year, then praise what actually mattered to them.
Weirdly, a compliment can insult your best employee. Imagine your top performer delivered a big technology project ahead of schedule and under budget. At their review, you make it the centerpiece of what you praise them for. But to them, that project was easy. They've done it dozens of times. Getting congratulated for it feels like complimenting Michael Jordan for making a layup. Have you ever been praised for something you found absurdly easy? It's kind of a little demeaning, right? In our performance appraisal study, only 28% of people said their leader always recognizes their accomplishments. So before you review, ask your high performers for a proudest moments list. Nothing formal, just an email describing their proudest moments from the past year. Now your compliment, your thank you, lands on the work that they actually value, not just the achievement that was most visible to you. Because Praise for that easy layup tells your star one thing— that you really weren't watching.
