Give Feedback, Not Instruction

Keep your criticism to your observations, and the impact they have. Don't try to fix the problem, just identify it.

Offer to help fix the problem, and to support the solution that the other person comes up with. Unless you know how to do the work your coworker is doing, don't try to solve it for them—they'll ignore your feedback and you.

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How to Give Criticism Without Sounding Like a Jerk

lifehacker.com

TOPICS IN THIS IDEA

Communication

How to Give Constructive Criticism: 6 Helpful Tips | Personal Excellence

Have feedback but you are not sure how to put it across? Here are 6 helpful tips to provide constructive criticism that's tactful and helpful at the same time. Tip 1) Use the Feedback Sandwich. Tip 2) Focus on the situation, not the person. Tip 3) Be specific with your feedback.

personalexcellence.co

3. Be Specific With Your Feedback

The more specific your feedback, the more actionable it is for the one receiving it. Example: Asking for an article on communication is vague while asking for one on public speaking is speci...

4. Comment On Actionable Things

To help people improve talk about things they can do something about, rather than those out of their control. Critiquing the former makes your criticism constructive; critiquing the latter makes the person feel bad as they can’t do anything about it, even if they want to.

Understand the person’s situation and his/her objectives, then provide your critique based on that. And if you need to talk about something out of their control, balance it out by talking about things they can control.

5. Give Improvement Recommendations

Give recommendations on what the person can do to improve so they have a clear idea of what you have in mind and get a strong call-to-action.

With your recommendations, (a) be specific with your suggestions and (b) briefly explain the rationale behind the recommendation. Also, try to limit examples to one per point to make your case more impactful.

7 more ideas

Alana F.

@alanaff557

How to Give Kind Criticism, and Avoid Being Critical : zen habits

Can you give someone criticism without hurting their feelings or making them angry? Can you do it kindly? I think that's a difficult proposition for most people, but in truth it's possible to give criticism with kindness and have a decent chance of having the person take it constructively.

zenhabits.net

Why We Give Criticism

To help someone improve. Sometimes criticism is actual honest feedback.
To see a change that we would like. If we regularly read a magazine or blog, for example, there mi...

Why Criticism Hurts or Angers

The criticism is mean-spirited. If you use insulting or degrading language or put down the person in any way, they will focus on that, and not on the rest of the criticism.
If you focus on the person instead of their actions, you will make them angry or defensive or hurt.
They assume you’re attacking them. Some people can’t take criticism in a detached, non-personal way.
They assume they’re right. Many people don’t like to hear that they’re wrong, whether it’s true or not.

How to Deliver Criticism Kindly

Don’t attack attack, insult, or be mean in any way
Talk about actions or things, not the person.
Don’t tell the person he’s wrong.
Don’t criticize at all. Give a positive suggestion instead.

3 more ideas

Makenzie

@makenzie774

The Three Keys to Giving Feedback to Overly Defensive People

When you know someone can be really defensive, it makes giving them any sort of constructive criticism a battle you'd probably rather avoid. If something needs to be said, it all depends on the clarity of your message and how you communicate it.

lifehacker.com

Delivering feedback to defensive people

Clear content: Choose the right language and imagine you’re a newscaster clearly relaying the most essential information to them.
Neutral tone: Remove your emotions from ...

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