Commending Your Own Staff
Guidelines and Alternate Phrases
Begin with your overall commendation for the reader’s effort, attitude, or results and then get specific in your praise.
If you’re learning to ride a horse, and you fall off, you must climb right back on and try again. It appears that’s just what you’ve done. Your sales record has never looked better—your sales in July were 20 percent above quota!
Under your excellent leadership, the team has continued to shine as the most capable of the region. Your record of completed projects is outstanding.
Thank you for your empathy, sound judgment, and skill last week in handling the unfortunate situation at the Cordell site. With no time to prepare, you immediately took control of the dazed visitors, minimizing the potential for panic and even legal liabilities.
I want to commend you on the excellent job you did in evaluating our recent purchase of property in the Allen community. You exhibited unwavering commitment to the stated goals while aggressively pursuing a new way of looking at the revenue potential.
Although my work involvement with you is now limited, I can honestly say your comments to us have always been especially timely and constructive.
The technical expertise you brought to the job was remarkable.
The professional manner in which you conducted yourself at the project meeting with the client had a very positive influence on a job that was in deep trouble from the outset.
The excellent quality of the work you did is unlike anything I’ve encountered here at International.
You have made an excellent contribution over the year to business growth, leadership, and customer satisfaction. Unsolicited favorable responses about our services have doubled.
Your explanation and diagnosis was the best I’ve ever heard on the subject.
You have been instrumental in establishing the necessary credibility with the client.
We have achieved several wins specifically because you are on our team.
Be informal in tone; think of your memo as a warm handshake or the proverbial slap on the back.
Include names. People, not departments, do work. They like to know you recognize their individual achievements and contributions. If you have many people to be commended, at least include their names in a distribution list.
Avoid any negative comments about the situation that may detract from the praise. For example, if you’re commending the reader for an excellent proposal presentation to a customer, don’t mention the key decision-maker didn’t bother to glance through it in the briefing meeting.
Stay focused on the reader and keep yourself out of the picture. You don’t want to sound as though you are tooting your own horn of leadership. Use the “you” approach rather than “we.”
You have certainly made us all look good.
Your professionalism was quite evident in this tense situation.
You used sound judgment that signifies clear thinking.
Your integrity and honesty in all such situations impress upon our customers again and again why they should return to our doors.
Your individual talents will always make the difference in how successful the company becomes.
With or without me around, you always seem to do an exceptional job.
You are the kind of employee who enables me to leave the office for a few days worry-free.
You contributed just the expertise I needed to make the project successful.
Don’t sound manipulative. Let your intent be to congratulate on work well done rather than to motivate to greater achievement—although commendations often do have motivational effect.
Don’t focus solely on benefits to the company to the exclusion of personal rewards. If you can say so truthfully, mention any personal or career benefit for the reader you think will come of the effort.
I’m very pleased to contribute my support to your efforts in other locations. Please call on me for any help I can provide.
I think this new experience will enable you to handle far more responsibilities than we’ve thus far given you. I’m looking forward to giving you other assignments that will continue to stretch your abilities.
I will not hesitate to recommend you in any capacity that requires your expertise and self-motivation.
You have the dedication and drive we like to see at Hilton Associates.
Such effort can’t go unnoticed and unrewarded in our organization. In my way of thinking, the sooner the better.
We’re looking forward to the opportunity to increase your responsibilities to match your talents.
We have exciting plans for your future here at Bechtel.
Obviously, your move to our division was the right one for you, too.
I hope the work has been as exciting and as challenging for you personally as it has been for the company.
As I hear it, you are making quite a name for yourself around here. Thank you.
I hope other opportunities will surface in the near future that will allow you to gain even more visibility for your efforts.
We will make every effort to let others in the division know you were the driving force behind the project.
When you can, commend with tangible rewards such as bonuses, increased commissions, public recognition (with a distribution list), or even more responsibility. Never, however, promise what you can’t deliver.
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