Commending peers - why or why not?

You stay classy, Management Seminar!

 

I think there was more of this in the days when most reporters did their writing in the office. There was more interaction professionally and socially.

 

Very good point, although it's certainly doable through e-mail and even IM these days, just maybe a tad less spontenous.

 

I remember as an intern I had been busting my ass on what people had thought would be a small story which turned into a much bigger one. I wasn't getting a ton of feedback, but the stuff was running out front, which I was told was rare for an intern.

I finally asked one of the editors if the stuff was OK. He said, "Do you see many changes between what you wrote and what runs in the paper?"

I said "No."

"That's a good thing."

A few weeks later we had a staff meeting and the SE singled me out and said I was doing a great job. That made me feel pretty good. Then he said, "All of you could learn something from the kid, but instead you're all obsessed with your goddamn comp time and god fucking forbid one of you works a 40-hour week between June and August."

At that point, I hoped I didn't get any more praise that summer.

 

This is sick and twisted, I know, but ... besides praise prompting some of us to ask for more money in our paychecks, it can lead to us having self-esteem issues (either having too much or maybe just having some at all). That can make us wonder if we don't deserve better treatment overall from our employers, in the form of promotions, raises, workload and work schedules, decision-making and so on.

You can only get told, "Your work is the best at this joint" so many times before you start to think you're slumming in some club that doesn't deserve you as a member. Heck, if your work is in the top half at most joints, you're probably a better employee than your paper is an employer.

 

For better or worse, that's a big part of this business: If you do your job and rarely hear anything, it means you're not causing any headaches for your bosses, and that means you're doing a good job.

 

My SE texted me with praise today. I told him, "You had need to thank me for doing my job." I don't think you should be commended for doing your job, but going above and beyond your responsibilites, then you should receive a pat on the back.

 

Back in college, our adviser would take a copy of the paper every day and critique it. Those of us who did well with our stories got our bylines circled with "Kudos" written next to it. It always felt great to open the paper and see that, especially if it were a story I had worked hard on.

The only time I've ever publicly gotten praise was from my college adviser. I wrote a feature story and not only did she e-mail me personally to tell me she liked my story, but she brought it up in the weekly staff meeting. I think you probably could have fried an egg on my face but I don't think I came down from the warm, fuzzy feeling for a few hours at least.

 

Sirs, Madames,

The extreme: Back pre-journalism days my friend helped me land a part-time gig with a government outfit. He was the ultimate as a dedicated company man: In eight years he had never taken a sick day (worked right through needing surgery for a hernia); paid from 9 am he showed up at 7 am to open up the office and put the coffee on; and, I shit you not, in a use-it-or-lose-it situation, he unwittingly worked through a week of his vacation. On his evaluation his boss gave him a B for attendance. "You're expected to be here," he was told.

My current boss called me to give me a pat on the back not so long ago ... I had no idea what to say. I'm not good at that stuff at all.

I think it's more meaningful when it comes from someone who's brought in cold. A few years ago the paper I worked for brought in a stealth consultant to do an evaluation of the editorial crew (she was a former ME or something of the DMN). She hung my name out there among those she considered the better writers. Politically, though, I was on the wrong side of a couple of management "deciders," pure suckers for brown-nosing networkers, so fat lot of good it did me. It was like I was Hattie McDaniel--I got an Oscar but now my career is over.

Way back I had a friend who played in the CFL for a Hall of Fame coach/ogre. He told me that he was more likely to hear a good word from an opponent or a player he was lining up against than from his coach and team-mate. I thought it was a bad situation (given he was an All-Star at the time). Just the way of the world though, just like any office.

YD&OHS, etc

 

I'm going into brown nosing, FOF. Better pay, fewer responsibilities.

 

Here is what praise is like in 2008.

"You're doing a great job. But times are tight so for the third year in a row, you will not be getting a raise."