A few weeks ago, I attended a performance of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, “Oklahoma!”, performed by a professional touring company, at the King’s Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland. It wasn’t West End (Britain’s Broadway), but it was close. Very close.
At the end of the show, the audience showed its intense appreciation for the outstanding performance with thunderous and sustained applause. From a seated position. The cast took their bows. The audience kept clapping, and hooting, and whistling, and shouting. And sitting.
As a big fan of musical theatre, and the father of a musical theatre major, I’ve been to lots of shows. In my experience, in the United States, unless a performance is embarrassingly lousy, it gets a standing ovation, deserved or not. Once in a while, after a truly remarkable performance, the standing O is spontaneous, immediate, and unanimous. More often, it starts with a few enthusiastic supporters, then those who think “Yeah, that was really good. I guess I’ll stand like these other people,” and finally a more reluctant group who stand so they don’t look like soreheads.
I belong to a professional association whose annual conventions (the last 19 of which I have attended) feature some of the best professional speakers in the world. Many of them have deserved a standing ovation; virtually all of them have received one. More than once, I’ve asked a friend sitting – er, standing, nearby, “Did you really think that was all that great?” to be answered, “Not really, but I think we should be supportive of each other, so I always stand at the end.”
I respectfully, and supportively, disagree.
Standing ovations, like the top rating on a performance evaluation, should be reserved for those performances that are truly distinguished in their excellence. When everybody gets a “5”, “Outstanding”, or “Consistently Exceeds Expectations”, it cheapens the feedback meant to be imparted by an evaluation.
I’m all for positive feedback. But I’m even more in favor of accurate feedback. Become known as a straight shooter. When someone’s got room for improvement, let them know, then help them get the rest of the way. We’re doing no favors when we tell people they’ve reached the summit, when the summit is actually just a few yards away. Reserve the standing ovations for those performances that are truly in a singular place at the top.
Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and the followup Contented Cows MOOve Faster. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.












