Why "Great Job" Teaches Nothing
Specific praise ("The way you handled that client call") outperforms generic praise ("Good work!") in building motivation and trust. Here's the mechanism.
"Good job!"
Two words. Zero information. And according to research, potentially counterproductive.
Carol Dweck's studies at Stanford found that children praised for specific effort chose challenging tasks 90% of the time, while those given generic ability praise ("You're so smart!") avoided difficulty and crumbled after setbacks.
The mechanism: specific praise teaches. It tells the recipient exactly what worked, making the behavior repeatable. Generic praise just signals approval without direction.
In workplace terms, "Great job on the project!" gives no useful information. But "The way you restructured the timeline to account for the vendor delay saved us two weeks" does three things: validates the specific action, reinforces the thinking behind it, and makes it more likely to happen again.
The nudge: Before your next recognition, pause and complete this sentence: "I noticed when you [specific action] and it helped because [specific impact]."
Specific praise takes ten extra seconds. It delivers ten times the value.
