Point of View

Lieutenant Leonard serves in the Training Academy of the Chesterfield County, Virginia, Police Department. "People ask you for criticism, but they only want praise." W. Somerset Maugham Of Human Bondage

An elusive quality of police supervisors is their ability to extend praise or positive comments to employees who perform admirably. Perhaps this stems from the very nature of police work. After all, citizens rarely, if ever, call on the police to tell officers that they are doing a fine job or how much they appreciate their services. No, citizens usually look to the police only when they fall victim to misfortune.

Still, supervisors need to realize the power of praise. An employee's job satisfaction is directly linked to individual recognition and positive reinforcement for work done well. Continued lack of recognition can have deteriorating effects on personnel and, in turn, on the department.

Individuals tend to retain those behaviors for which they receive positive reinforcement. It would seem that receiving praise satisfies one of mankind's most important needs. In his "Hierarchy of Needs" pyramid, Abraham Maslow, a psychologist whose lifelong interest involved human motivation, lists five levels of need for all human beings.1 As individuals reach fulfillment at one level, they move on to the next, until all levels have been achieved or satisfied. The fourth level in Maslow's pyramid is labeled "Ego/Status." At this level, individuals need to be seen as people of worth by others; they search for recognition, status, prestige, and praise. Failure to achieve this level makes it difficult to move on to the fifth, and final, level of the pyramid, which is self-actualization-the need for self-fulfillment and personal development, to be creative, innovative, and challenged in the work environment.

Given that praise is important to personal and professional growth and well-being, why do some police supervisors fail to satisfy this particular employee need? By examining the potential reasons for the lack of praise, supervisors can learn where their shortcomings may lie and how they can become more praise-conscious.

Any discussion of the reasons behind the failure to give praise must begin with an acknowledgement that this affliction does not affect all supervisors. Some supervisors make a conscious effort to extend praise whenever it is warranted. Unfortunately, these individuals are the exception and not the norm. There also are some supervisors who have praised in the past but now have stopped, even though the quality of employee performance has not deteriorated. They, too, may have fallen victim to the failure-to-praise syndrome that afflicts the law enforcement profession. And those who do not receive praise may have difficulty extending it to others. For the most part, however, a majority of supervisors never have made praise a part of their workday behavior. All of this leads to the question, "Why do so many good supervisors fall short when it comes to praising employees?"

A Paperwork Nightmare

Some supervisors do not praise employees because of the paperwork involved. Unfortunately, they do not recognize that praise does not have to be a lengthy, formal, or involved process. In fact, Blanchard and Johnson, in their book The One Minute Manager,2 list one-minute praises as one of the secrets to being a good manager. What supervisors need to remember is that in most cases, employees receive as much benefit from informal praise as they do from formal commendation.

While awards and medals have an established place in the police culture, so should informal, hand-written notes of thanks, pats on the back, or just some words of encouragement at a roll call. In fact, it is the informal praise that employees come to appreciate more, because in some departments, awards, medals, and commendations are handed out so frequently for trivial deeds that they have become meaningless.

Commitment to Favorable Annual Performance Some supervisors do not praise because they fear they would be committed to giving those employees favorable annual evaluations, which also may translate into a paperwork nightmare. However, supervisors must remember that individual acts deserving of praise make up only a small part of an employee's total performance. These praises should not, by themselves, dictate annual performance evaluations. When completing annual performance evaluations, supervisors must give the proper weight to each admirable act and no more.

At the same time, supervisors need to keep in mind that well-deserved praise could spur employees to perform better. When supervisors fail to praise regardless of the accomplishment, employees most likely will adopt a "nothing-I-do-is-good-enough" attitude. This only results in employees doing just enough to get by.

Spectacular Acts Belief

Many supervisors reserve praise only for spectacular acts done beyond the call of duty. Yet, what of those employees who do their jobs well, who complete assignments on or ahead of schedule, who are diligent and conscientious, but who may never perform a spectacular act during their entire career?

Every law enforcement agency employs such individuals. For this very reason, recognition should not be doled out solely for exceptional performance. Praise should be given for everyday work that clearly stands out.

Fear of Competition

In some cases, supervisors are afraid to praise certain individuals because they feel threatened by them. Fear of competition causes many good works to go unrecognized. Every supervisor should strive to make the department the best it can be. Even if some employees are on the "fast track," supervisors should not let this dictate who receives praise. Praise should be given when it is deserved and earned, regardless of other factors.

Jealousy

Closely related to fear of competition, jealousy can influence a supervisor's decision to praise, even if it is truly deserved. Rather than being jealous, supervisors should be proud of their subordinates' accomplishments and praise them for their good work. Their achievements only reflect favorably on their supervisors' ability to lead others.

Lack of Interpersonal Communication Skills

One of the most overlooked reasons for failure to praise stems from the supervisor's interpersonal communication skills. Some supervisors simply have a difficult time expressing praise and, for this reason, avoid giving it. To help employees counter this shortcoming, departments need to ensure that supervisors receive training in communication skills, human relations, and even public speaking.

All of the reasons that supervisors may not offer praise assume one thing-that they were aware of an individual's performance but failed to recognize it. This may be where the greatest void exists and why many employees are not given the recognition they so rightfully deserve.

Certainly, every supervisor becomes aware of their employees' heroic and brave acts. But are they aware of their everyday activities? In this age of community policing and employee empowerment, the answer is, "Most likely not." An employee's best work may be found in the way the officer handles a domestic dispute, deals with the parents of a lost child, or responds to a simple inquiry from a citizen.

Supervisors should make a concerted effort, whenever possible, to show up on routine calls. If not, they will miss witnessing some of the best police work being performed.

This does not imply that supervisors should check on employees continually. Obviously, the supervisor's duties and responsibilities will not accommodate going to every call with every officer every day. Rather, supervisors need to be aggressive and willing to create opportunities to experience first-hand an employee's performance that may result in praise. Blanchard and Johnson recommend trying to catch employees in the act of doing something right.3

At the same time, supervisors need to use every resource available to capture information on the deserving acts of employees. One of these resources is the individuals themselves.

All employees should be encouraged to bring to the supervisor's attention any action they believe stands out, any performance that is worthy of praise. Employees may find this difficult at first. Some employees may feel that bringing their own positive performance to their supervisor's attention will be viewed by others as bragging or shameless self-promotion. But, there is a distinct difference between bragging and simply advising the boss of exceptional performance. Supervisors need to make employees feel at ease with bringing their good deeds to light. They should listen attentively to what employees have to say, thank them for the information, encourage them to keep open the channels of communication, and then praise them appropriately and immediately.

Above all, supervisors need to let others know about the positive performance of their employees. They should take the time to ensure that the recognition of good work is sent up the chain of command as well as down to the line officers. In many cases, peer recognition means more to an employee than recognition by the administration.

A word of caution is warranted. Some supervisors may go to the extreme when praising employees. They will reward individuals merely for doing what they are supposed to do. This diminishes the value of praise. Supervisors should maintain the standards of performance that are worthy of recognition and not minimize the desired effect by making it a common, easily attained reward.

In many departments, negative criticism far outweighs recognition of positive performance. What supervisors must realize is that each is a necessary function and that they must strike a balance between criticizing negative performance and praising positive work.

Negative criticism attaches to an employee and stays with that individual. Praise, on the other hand, is fleeting; the aftereffects are short-lived and seldom remembered by others. Therefore, in striking a balance, supervisors need to make sure they bring closure to negative performance. Supervisors should not delay in giving employees negative criticizism when the work warrants it, but they should do so privately and in a positive manner. If done properly, even negative criticism can be productive and become a building block on which employees can grow.

CONCLUSION

The act of praising individuals meets one of mankind's greatest needs. Not only must this need be met, but it also must be repeated and reinforced. Praise can act as a catalyst to encourage performance that supervisors want to see from all employees.

Supervisors must, therefore, be aggressive in giving praise to their employees. If not, they might only compound the frustrations that officers experience daily. However, if supervisors praise deserving employees, they will reap the benefits of highly motivated individuals performing their duties as best they can.

Endnotes

1 Bert Scanlon and J. Bernard Keys, Management and Organizational Behavior (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1979), 223. Maslow theorized that all motivation was based on satisfying a hierarchy of needs, progressing from basic physiological and safety needs to social and ego needs, and ultimately, to self-actualization, a sense of reaching one's fullest potential. 2 Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, The One Minute Manager (new York: Berkley Books, 1983). 3 Ibid., 78.