Appreciation is one of the most powerful tools a leader can use to build a winning team.
In fact, Harvard Business Review reported that 69% of employees say they would work harder if they felt their efforts were better recognized.
And Terryberry found that 92% of workers are more likely to repeat a specific action after receiving recognition for it.
If you want happy and productive team members, you need to ensure they feel seen and appreciated for their efforts. But the way you express appreciation matters. Generic praise won’t have the same impact as recognition that is both meaningful and affirming.
In my keynotes and team-building programs, I emphasize two critical keys to making your appreciative comments truly meaningful:
- Make It Specific About the Behavior
Vague praise leads to vague effort. If you don’t clearly state what someone did that was appreciated, they won’t know what behavior to repeat.
- Instead of: “You did a nice job yesterday.”
- Say: “Your attention to detail with statistics in yesterday’s meeting was fantastic.”
- Make It Specific About the Impact
A thank-you becomes even more impactful when you connect the behavior to its positive effect on the team or organization.
- Instead of: “That meant a lot to me.”
- Say: “That was the key to us getting the account, which will benefit everyone here.”
Winning teammates share specific praise. But the best leaders and teammates take another meaningful step—they elevate appreciation to affirmations.
Improve Appreciation by Adding Affirmation
While appreciation focuses on a behavior, affirmation focuses on a trait.
And effective leaders understand that identity drives activity.
How people see themselves significantly impacts the choices they make—both personally and professionally. Someone who believes they are resilient will persist through challenges. Someone who sees themselves as helpful will seek out ways to assist others.
By using affirmations, leaders can help their team members develop positive self-identities that reinforce consistent behaviors. Instead of just recognizing actions, they can instill a deeper sense of purpose and belonging in their people.
How to Develop Positive Team Traits with Affirmations
To reinforce positive identities, shift your comments from focusing only on behaviors to highlighting character traits.
A simple yet powerful phrase you can use is “You are someone who…”
Examples of Identity-Affirming Statements
1. “Thanks for your help with the client issue yesterday (behavior). Without you stepping in, I think they may have fired us (impact). You are someone who always approaches challenges with compassion, creativity, and determination (affirmation).
2. “Thanks for jumping in to finish the proposal last week (behavior). With Susan out sick, it helped us keep to our promised timeline and maintain our reputation (impact). You are someone who always takes initiative, and it’s clear that being proactive is part of your work ethic (affirmation).”
3. “I appreciate how you handled the disagreement in our team meeting today (behavior). It could have gone sideways, but you kept us focused and productive (impact). You are someone who has a remarkable talent for clear and compassionate communication. It’s evident that empathy is a priority for you in every interaction (affirmation).”
Four Reminders to Make Affirmations Stick
- Use present tense:
- “You are a dedicated team player” (instead of “You were helpful on this project”).
- Connect actions to character traits:
- “Your persistence in solving that issue shows your commitment to excellence.”
- Highlight patterns that reinforce identity:
- “I’ve noticed you consistently take the lead and stay positive in difficult situations.”
- Emphasize growth and progress:
- “The way you’ve developed your analytical skills demonstrates your commitment to continuous improvement.”
By applying these strategies, leaders can help team members internalize positive traits as part of their identity, which in turn drives consistent behavior aligned with those traits. The goal is to help individuals see these attributes as intrinsic to who they are—not just as actions they occasionally perform.
The Role of Team-Building in Reinforcing Affirmations
While using affirmations in daily interactions is a powerful leadership tool, a well-designed team-building event can amplify the impact by creating an environment where team members can experience and reinforce these identities in action.
A facilitated team-building event provides:
- Fun, interactive experiences that allow employees to showcase their strengths in real-time.
- Opportunities for peer recognition, which makes affirmations even more powerful when they come from teammates.
- A shared language of appreciation, helping to create a culture where meaningful recognition is the norm.
- A structured setting to build trust and camaraderie, strengthening relationships that lead to better collaboration and productivity.
Build a Culture of Recognition and Affirmation
As a leader, your words shape the way your team members see themselves and their roles within the organization. By making recognition more meaningful through specific appreciation and identity-based affirmations, you can:
- Increase employee engagement
- Improve retention
- Boost team morale
- Strengthen workplace culture
If you want to take this concept to the next level and embed it deeply into your team culture, consider bringing in a facilitated team-building event that will deliver fun, interactive experiences with tangible takeaways to improve team interactions, productivity, and retention.
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Sean Glaze is a leadership speaker, teambuilding facilitator, and author who delivers engaging experiences
that ignite your team’s performance. Sean has worked with clients like Cisco, John Deere, the CDC, and Emory University to increase collaboration, boost productivity, and build sticky cultures that inspire more profitable teamwork.
As a successful basketball coach, Sean gained valuable insights on turning talent into teamwork – and now he travels around the country to share those lessons. Sean’s conference keynotes and custom team building events deliver laugh-out-loud moments and memorable take-aways that transform your people into winning teammates and more effective leaders.
Sean’s books, Rapid Teamwork, The 10 Commandments of Winning Teammates, and Staying Coachable are entertaining parables that help accelerate the growth of leaders and their teams!