A Better Way to Build Confidence and Performance in Your Team

Praise rewards the outcome, encouragement fuels the journey.

In today’s fast-paced work environments, leaders are under pressure to motivate, retain, and inspire their teams. Many turn to praise as a go-to strategy: “Great job!” or “You’re amazing!” While well-intentioned, praise often centers on external approval and outcomes. A more effective and sustainable alternative? Encouragement. Rooted in Adlerian psychology and supported by leadership research, encouragement focuses on effort, process, and personal growth. Encouragement is hard because we often lack visibility into the journey someone took to achieve success. We focus on results, not the effort behind them. Praise recognizes the outcome, which external factors, good timing, or luck might have influenced. Encouragement highlights the process, and it’s that journey that is the more reliable predictor of future success.

Why Praise Falls Short

Praise says ‘you did it.’ Encouragement says ‘you can do it again.

Praise tends to be evaluative. It positions the leader as the judge and the employee as the performer. Statements like “You’re the best on the team” can breed comparisons, performance anxiety, and a dependence on external validation. Research by Carol Dweck (2006) shows that praising traits such as intelligence can foster a fixed mindset, in which individuals fear taking risks and avoid challenges to protect their identity.

For example, if you keep telling your child they’re “so good at math, ” they may begin to believe that’s all they’re good at. When faced with challenges in other subjects, they might avoid trying, or if they fail a math test, they might blame external factors rather than seeing an opportunity to learn or grow.

What Encouragement Sounds Like

Encouragement, by contrast, is descriptive and empowering. Instead of saying, “You crushed that presentation,” a leader might say, “I noticed how clearly you outlined the risks and stayed calm when questions came up. That took preparation and poise.”

This kind of feedback strengthens self-awareness, effort, and resilience. It reinforces what the person did well, not just how they made the leader feel.

At home, instead of saying, “Nice goal!” or “Good job today.” you can focus on specific behaviours: “Your passes were tape-to-tape all game,” or “You kept your feet moving and anticipated the play, that really made a difference.”

The Psychology Behind Encouragement

Adlerian therapists believe that people aren’t broken; they’re discouraged. Encouragement is about restoring courage. In the workplace, this might mean helping a struggling team member recognize their progress and growth potential, rather than praising a lucky win. According to Bandura (1997), belief in one’s ability, self-efficacy, is a key driver of motivation. Encouragement builds this belief by anchoring feedback in effort, learning, and persistence. It invites the individual to internalize success as something within their control, rather than something granted by chance or external validation. When leaders consistently encourage, they foster a culture of psychological safety where people feel secure to try, fail, and grow.

From Judgment to Partnership

Praise can feel like a spotlight; encouragement feels like a mirror. It says, “I see you,” not “I approve of you.” This shift builds trust, safety, and autonomy, key ingredients in high-performing teams. Descriptive feedback helps people know exactly which behaviours to repeat, rather than wondering which part of their performance earned praise.

Practical Encouragement Phrases

• “You stuck with it even when it got hard.”
• “I noticed how you let everyone speak before offering your solution.”
• “That decision took integrity.”
• “You’ve really grown in how you approach feedback.”

Conclusion

Praise builds pride. Encouragement builds perseverance.

Encouragement doesn’t mean softening expectations; it means shifting focus from outcomes to effort, from approval to belief, leaders who use encouragement foster teams that are more resilient, self motivated, and aligned with their values. So next time you feel the urge to say, “Great job,” pause. Look deeper. Reflect what you see. That’s leadership. It may be hard at first, but the encouraging part is that you’ll begin to notice the process that earned the praise, and that’s what makes the difference.

About the Author
Justin Yaassoub is the founder of All Around Performance and a trusted leadership advisor for high-risk and high-performance environments. With over a decade of experience in emergency response, tactical leadership, and organizational development, he brings a grounded, no-nonsense approach to developing resilient teams. Justin has taught leadership strategy at institutions like NAIT’s Centre for Applied Disaster and Emergency Management and continues to work directly with frontline and executive leaders across Canada.

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