How to Praise Someone Professionally
63+ Examples of How to Praise Someone Professionally
Employees that feel valued are going to be more productive, have more trust in their management and are less likely to leave the company.
So how do you praise someone professionally and build a positive and productive work environment?
How To Praise Someone Professionally
It shouldn’t be hard, but both giving and accepting a compliment can be quite the challenge. This is as true in the office as it is in your personal life. The key is to be truthful, specific and to back up your words with action.
- Be genuine - An employee or coworker is going to see through a fake compliment. Be honest, or your praise might backfire, hurting your credibility.
- Don’t exaggerate - Overselling your praise is also a turnoff. Over time, employees won’t feel like you’re being truthful or genuine.
- Be specific* - A general “Great job!” to a coworker or employee isn’t going to resonate. Tell them exactly what they did to earn your praise.
- Make it personal - One compliment to a large group of people is meaningless. Single coworkers (or a small team/division) out for their specific achievements.
- Make it timely - Giving a compliment for something that happened months ago is going to miss the point. Praise needs to be given for a recent work accomplishment to feel genuine.
- Back it up - A compliment is going to hit pretty flat if it doesn’t result in an improvement to their situation.
- Mix it up - Again, praise is good, but mix it up with other incentives to show your appreciation. Food, casual dress day, extra time off, a social media shout-out, gift cards, etc. Think of something—anything—to add to the mix.
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40 Ways To Say “Good Job”
How do you hit the sweet spot of a genuine professional compliment that doesn’t sound stiff or fake? Starting with some of these phrases is an excellent first step.
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20 Genuine Compliments for Coworkers
Don’t want to sort through the above list? No worries. Jump to one of the categories below and choose from one of these 20 genuine compliments for coworkers.
Compliments About Skills
Compliments on Enthusiasm
Compliments About Hard Work
Compliments About Being a Team Player
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Three Sample Compliment Letters To Praise Professionally
Finally, it’s time to put it all together. Whether you’re a manager or team leader praising an employee or simply want to compliment a colleague, these three sample compliment letters will show you how to sincerely and professionally compliment someone.
We’ve used some of the phrases above as a first step and then added a detailed explanation of what the employee did and why it was so impressive.
In these letters, we tried to sound as sincere and natural as possible. We specified a reason for the praise and expressed a wish to continue working with the employee.
Sample Compliment Letter From an Executive to a Sales Manager
Dear {formtext: name=first name; cols=8},
I want to personally congratulate you on a job well done for the past six months. Since your last promotion, you’ve surpassed my expectations and then some.
I was impressed by your approach to some of our difficult clients. Your ability to foresee their needs has led to a record in sales in your team.
Your hard work has truly paid off, and we’re thrilled to have you at the helm of our newest sales division. As a token of our appreciation, we would like to offer you a small bonus.
We hope you’ll feel how much we appreciate your work and we’re excited to see what the next six months (and beyond) have in store!
Best, Tiffany
Sample Compliment Letter From a Team Leader to an Engineer
Dear {formtext: name=first name; cols=8},
I’m reaching out to thank you for your great performance as part of our research and development team.
Now that the project has come to a close, It is clear that it wouldn’t have turned out the same without your insight and creativity. The ideas you brought to the table changed the course of our project for the better.
Furthermore, while I know things have been hectic, you stayed calm, collected, and never wavered. I appreciated how you made it easy for us to come together as a team. Especially as you were so flexible in regards to changing deadlines and team members’ changing schedules.
To show the company’s appreciation, I’ve asked to give you a shout-out on our Twitter and Facebook pages and congratulate you on a job well done.
It was a joy being your team lead and I look forward to collaborating with you again.
Thank you, Sharon
Sample Compliment Letter to a Designer From a Colleague
Dear {formtext: name=first name; cols=8},
I wanted to personally welcome you to ACME. It’s been a wonderful few months since you joined our art team and I’ve been in awe of your work ethics.
You’ve had a great perspective on our latest designs and I’ve been impressed by the unique perspective you bring to every project.
Can I pick your brain about how you developed the art concept for the client in the lat project? Your designs were incredible and the client clearly loved them.
I look forward to continuing working with you and learning from your experience.
Best, Mario
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