Praise Is a Lesson

Specific praise teaches the team what excellence looks like — without a training session, without an all-hands, without anyone calling it training.

"The way Sarah rewrote that intro cut the email by a third and kept every key point" does two jobs at once: it recognizes Sarah, and it shows everyone what good editing looks like here. A quick observation becomes a quiet standard others copy.

Every specific compliment is a public lesson. Every vague 'great job' is a teaching moment thrown away.