Chapter 14. You’re Great, But ...
A boss who doesn’t fully show appreciation for his employees can cause feelings of frustration, lowered self-esteem, and poor motivation. But equally as demoralizing can be “backhanded compliments,” that is, when a boss continually combines praise with negative put-downs. On the one hand, the boss is seemingly complimenting an employee for a good performance, but then comes the follow-up punch—a judgmental statement about something, maybe even several things, the employee is doing wrong. When you are confronted with a positive and a negative, the negative will often seem stronger. You feel like you are being buttered up only to be put down; given a reward only to be set up to get a punishment. This can end up ...
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