Good job, great job, great work and all that

Worked with a bunch of talented technologists over the last few days. And gave them an exercise "Appreciate an intern"

The majority of the responses were along the lines of "great job, good job". Some of them were "good job, great job" with a disclaimer. Some found it difficult to appreciate (is there any reason to appreciate?).

Fairly common - I have written about this in my book as well - but what is funny is that they are saying this because they have received appreciation in much the same way.

So, we worked from there and asked - what is wrong with this? And they all got it right.

What is the purpose of appreciation - and they got that right as well.

If you know that this sort of vague appreciation is not helping the team, why are you not doing it the right way?

And. how are you appreciating your team?

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