How to Give Someone Constructive Criticism in the Workplace

How to Give Someone Constructive Criticism in the WorkplaceHow to Give Someone Constructive Criticism in the WorkplaceWhen I welches finishing up a summer internship during grad school, I was scheduled for a feedback session on the final day of work. Having worked really hard throughout the summer, I walked into the session expecting positive, or, at the very least, mixed feedback.What I received instead was my managers biased stance on why she felt certain events had happened in the past couple weeks and what this meant about my attitude. She was wrong. There were other reasons for the recent events that she hadnt considered. I felt blindsided and shocked that none of my hard work throughout the three months had been considered. I left the office that day in tears.That memory has stuck with me because I felt that a lot of the standard rules for properly delivering feedback were not followed. Feedback, I discovered that day and again after, is more effective for the recipient if the giver can remain objective and focus on communicating solutions.Here are some tips for optimally organizing and delivering constructive criticism.1.Focus on observations. Do not assume intentions.When organizing points for a feedback discussion, collect examples that support what youre communicating. However, do not surmise the motivation behind behaviors. Be open when discussing the actions with the individual, and be open to hearing the individuals rationale or personal circumstances. If you lob unfounded accusations, the other person could become hintermannschaft and stop listening.2.Tie the behavior or action to an outcome.While you should comment on the persons actions, it is more impactful if you can tie the behavior to an outcome or describe the negative impact. It provides context for the individual and also establishes that you are not attacking the person but rather critiquing how their behavior impacts others. For example, instead of telling a person that you disagree wit h the negative comments that theyve made, explain how it impacts team morale and distracts team members from overcoming obstacles and tackling work.Incidentally, tips 1 and 2 make up part of the Gordon method for delivering feedback using I-statements 1) describe the behavior you find unacceptable, 2) share your feelings and 3) identify the tangible and concrete effect of the behavior.3.Be aware of recency bias.Recency biasis the tendency to place more value on recent events because of their freshness within your memory. Consider all events regardless of when they occurred. Recency bias can occur for positive or negative behavior. If a person performs well but has a rough couple of weeks recently, you could be penalizing them unfairly. Conversely, if a person underperforms for a long span of time but more recently had major wins, you may be celebrating spurts of good work rather than sustained solid performance.4. Offer recommendations or alternatives.In addition to telling a person things that they should try to refrain from doing, offer them some suggestions of some things they should try. A person may be acting one way because they arent aware of alternatives. Give them some ideas to seed their imagination, and then encourage them to think of other, more productive ways to operate.5.Deliver feedback in person.Comments can be misconstrued when delivered over an online medium, no matter how many smiley-face emoticons you use. When possible, deliver feedback in personso that you can see their reactions and adapt what you are saying according to their verbal responses or the body language you witness. Giving feedback in real time and actively taking into account the information that you gather during the conversation allows you to adjust the course of the conversation so that it remains focused on the most important topics.Read Related ArticlesCharm Candidates With an Irresistible Company Culture