Practice Appreciation: Skill 5: Name the Differences Between Appreciation and What’s Often Confused with Appreciation Like Ego Building, Manipulation, and Praise

Each MCD Relationship Competency identifies 6 Skills, along with specific practices for learning each. For more context about MCD Relationship Competency 1: Appreciation, see Skill 1: Express the definition and purpose of appreciation, Skill 2: Express what’s working, Skill 3: Empathy for appreciation, and Skill 4: Express three types of appreciation.

Skill 5: Name the differences between appreciation and what’s often confused with appreciation like ego building, manipulation, and praise

As you integrate this consciousness and set of skills, my hope for you is that upon hearing any form of praise you can immediately get curious and make guesses about the other person's feelings and needs and the actions that met their needs. This might look like making empathy guesses or asking questions about the specific behavior that met their needs.

PRACTICE:

Take a moment now and remember three examples of praise you either received or offered. Use the feelings and needs list to make guesses about what was behind each example of praise.