In his book THE HEART OF A LEADER, author Ken Blanchard points out the need to encourage people along the way, not just at the final destination:
“Many well-intentioned leaders wait to praise their people until they do things exactly right — complete the project or accomplish the goal. The problem here is that they could wait forever. You see ‘exactly right’ behavior is made up of a whole series of approximately right behaviors. It makes more sense to praise progress — it’s a moving target.
“Can you imagine standing a child up and saying, ‘Walk,’ and when he falls down you say, ‘I told you to walk!’ and then spank him. Of course not. You stand the child up and he wobbles a bit. You shout, ‘You stood!’ and shower him with hugs and kisses. The next day, he wobbles a step and you are all over him with praise. Gradually, the child gains confidence until he finally walks. It’s the same with adults. Catch them doing things right — and in the beginning, approximately right is fine.”
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from THE HEART OF A LEADER by Ken Blanchard, Honor Books, 1999, p. 9
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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #5087]