In Praise of Process Praise
One of my favorite tools to use in both my personal and professional life is process praise. I’ve used it as a manager, in interactions with my family and life partner, and constantly as a coach. It’s the best and easiest tool to use to help people to see themselves and what they can change / how they already have grown.
Here’s the basic concept:
Person praise is praising fixed characteristics about a person. When we say “you’re so good at ___” or “you’re very ___.”
Process praise is praising the work, effort, or actions taken.
Here are some examples of both:
Click the image to download an accessible PDF of our Person Praise vs Process Praise infographic.
Why do I love process praise so much, you may ask? It’s about helping the person to see who they are even when they fail at things they’re ‘supposed to’ be good at.
“Process praise is more likely to lead to resilient responses after negative feedback or failure. [People] can still feel positive emotions even after mistakes, because their value as a person hasn’t been called into question.” (Master, 2).
This is something we hear a lot from former so-called “gifted kids”: their entire identity is formed around the things they’re good at, the things they’re better at than their peers. So, when us “gifted kids” suddenly aren’t the best at something? We break.
Speaking as a recovering “gifted kid” myself, we often aren’t prepared for the hit to our ego that can come with not being as good at things as our peers anymore. In adulthood, things like executive dysfunction, inadequate accommodations, chronic illness, and other barriers get in the way of our success. If we’re told that we’re equally capable of figuring out the process of getting back onto the road to success, and if we hear that message throughout our lives and really come to believe it? We have something tangible for our self esteem to hang onto, even if all other signs of the things we were proud of about ourselves have left the building.
The research is very clear: process praise leads to adults with more resilient, growth-mindset oriented attitudes.
Here are our tips for effective process praise:
Click the image to download an accessible PDF of our Person Praise vs Process Praise infographic.
References
Allison, Master. “Praise That Makes Learners More Resilient.” Student Experience Network, 2015.
Dweck, Carol S. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Ballantine Books, 2016.
Gunderson, E.A., Gripshover, S.J., Romero, C., Dweck, C.S., Goldin-Meadow, S. and Levine, S.C. (2013), Parent Praise to 1- to 3-Year-Olds Predicts Children's Motivational Frameworks 5 Years Later. Child Dev, 84: 1526-1541.
