There’s an assumption in business that accomplished leaders don’t need encouragement, praise or recognition. They just get things done, which is why we think of them as accomplished.

But need and want are not the same thing. You can be capable of doing hard things and still be grateful when someone who knows how hard you work recognizes your talent and effort.

To say this more simply, there’s no point at which human beings stop being human, just because they have a big job.

I’m not just talking about CEOs. This applies to business unit leaders, regional leaders and district managers. It applies to all C-suite members and even partners in small investment firms.

You can be both highly capable and also grateful for genuine positive feedback.

Too often, here’s what happens: your boss only tacitly acknowledges your success, and then jumps into a conversation about what is not going well.

It might sound like this, “Sure, revenues are on target, but expenses are way up and I don’t understand why you are spending so much money on training and external consultants.”

Or this, “I know you’ve hit your sales quota 15 months in a row, but we are a week into May and your pipeline looks pretty feeble.”

There are many ways around this (Iikely unintentionally) demotivating approach.

First, lead with “what can we do to support you?” rather than “here’s what you are doing wrong”.

Second, never take any talented person for granted. Even if they have hit their target 30 times in a row, such an achievement deserves recognition and gratitude.

Third, ask for the other person’s assessment before you adopt a critical tone and point out challenges they are already focused on handling. If someone is about to tell you how they are going to manage a production bottleneck, there’s no point jumping in first to point out the bottleneck.

It’s tempting to just think, “S/he knows how much we are grateful for years of top-notch work.” Don’t just think it. Say it. Show it.

The best people might make high performance look easy, but it never is. Encouragement and recognition work at all levels.