Giving praise and criticism

When giving compliments be specific. For example, ‘You handled that diffucult situation with the client very well by listening and not iterrupting him rather than, ‘You’re quite good with difficult people? ‘ The first response give specific feedback on what the person did well.

When giving critism you must be to the point eg. ‘You missed the deadline for the report’, rather than, ‘You’re absolutely useless at time managment.’

Follow this up with reasons for your comments. This is helpful whether the comments are positive or negative because we need to know what we are being praised for if we are to know how to use it as helpful feedback: ‘You missed the deadline for that report, probably because you have been spending more time on telephone sales than we planned. Perhaps we should discuss how you should allocate your time in future?’

  1. Don’t use praise as a way of manipulating people into doing something for you, e. g. ‘You are the most hardworking member of the department and I really appreciate the effort you put in for the meeting this afternoon. Perhaps you could just write up the minutes for me?’ This manipulation makes the praise insincere.
  2. When giving criticism, seek solutions, rather than commenting on somebody’s personality. ‘You’re getting far too many complaints from members of the public recently. What the heck’s the matter with you?’ is very unhelpful. Instead say: ‘You seem to be getting complaints from members of the public in your section at the moment. Do you know what the problem is?’
  3. Above all, avoid public put-downs, or criticism in situations which will cause embarrassment.

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