The opposite of constructive criticism is praise. People seem to be more willing to identify faults than to state what has gone right. Praise does not cost anything, though still we may feel that they do not really deserve it. As team members, you stand a great chance to improve your relationship with other members if you keep praising others. Those who do not give enough praise are usually not so confident about themselves. They think, wrongly, that by praising the other person they will undermine their own abilities. Interestingly we seem to be conditioned on this. We also think that those who do praise a lot are confident. You can use praise as a tool to show your confidence and make others feel better about themselves.

When praising, make sure that you always pay attention to the following:

• Specify what you are praising the person for
• Describe the impact
• Reinforce the identity of the person you praised