I have thanked my VPS’ or bosses on various occasions, for their support and or guidance, along with the support they provide to the dept.
I grew up with very little positive reinforcement if any, so as an adult i have come to need very little of it, but i have learned that there are many people out there that do require the positive reinforcement and with it they strive to grow and develop. keeping in mind that it needs to be balanced and not just needles flattery…
Jon, you state that “you” know when you do well… but what happens if you think you do well but someone disagrees… do you simply dismiss their opinion or do you strive to understand were the difference in view point is coming from? I have seen many people take the approach, of I don’t care if you think i do a good job or not because I know what i do. We just went through evaluations and one employee rated themselves as 4’s across the board (highest number / best score) and when his numbers didn’t match up with our VP’s and my assessment his response was "they are just numbers and don’t mean anything, I know the type of job i do… With this attitude he has grown at a very slow rate through his career…