Praise for rescuing keeps the dependency alive

You&rsquo;re on holiday and something breaks at work. You drive back, you fix it, everyone applauds. And you feel it too: you were needed, and it worked. That applause is where it goes wrong. Praise is a signal: it tells the whole organisation what actually gets rewarded. You learn that you&rsquo;re the one who always shows up. Your team learns that the call is yours, not theirs. Your own boss…