If someone is doing things wrong, don’t accumulate a list offences for one massive criticism frenzy. Regularly let them know about mistakes so feedback becomes part of the routine.
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People are more likely to want to hear negative feedback than feel like giving it. So schedule a weekly check-in with your colleagues or team where you appraise them of what’s going wrong, says Ethan Rasiel, CEO of Lightspeed Public Relations:
Often managers save up criticism for weeks or months and then pour it out all at once. It’s better to provide feedback — positive and negative — in real time,” he says. By giving regular feedback, you’ll become more comfortable giving it, and your team will be more prepared to receive it.
It’s an uncomfortable situation, but knowing how to give criticism and when to do it can help make your life smoother. By making it a part of regular routine, you take the pain and negativity away from it.
How To Master The Art Of Giving Negative Feedback [Fast Company]
Comments
2 responses to “Don’t Let Negative Feedback Accumulate”
Let them know their mistakes all the time…so they feel like a failure, all the time. Why not just fire them?
Great advice!
Nah, I’ve seen managers do this. They sit on a shitload of mistakes which they then use as ‘evidence’ to show how much of a failure someone is and why they need to be demoted, when they could’ve let the person know straight away and there’s no guarantee they would’ve made the mistake again even once, let alone the number of incidents they’ve sat on. It’s petty bullshit which gets dressed up as being considerate… up until the point that you use it against someone.
Up-front is better. Besides. When someone gets corrected on their mistakes routinely, they tend to try to stop making them. Maybe not spectacularly successfully, but feeling like a failure several times in a row and fixing it is better than a giant failure-bomb dropped on you after weeks or months.
A team I worked in a few years back used to come up to ask me the questions to knotty problems, and I had a pretty set routine list of questions I’d ask them about things I wanted to know they’d tried before they saw me. One of my best memories of that technique is watching one of my guys come up, ask if I could help, seeing me look up and getting ready to ask my standard list, and the gears shifted when he realized he hadn’t done it. “Uh…. nevermind, I know what I’ve done.” He went back and solved his own problem.
Success.