Happy & Healthy

constructive criticism

This is how you go about it

As much as you might like each other, get along and love being colleagues, it doesn’t always mean you’ll agree on everything. Giving feedback is not as fun as giving people compliments, but it has to be done.

1. Think of this

Shine comes from friction, and another one of those gems: “for good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument, debate.” I always remember by old ballet instructor who was so hard on the most talented dancers of the group because she wanted to make the most of them. You need to view criticism as a compliment. Even the nastiest messages on Instagram and Facebook have a certain way of making me bring out the best in me.

2. The word ‘but’ is forbidden

Anything that comes after the word ‘but’ is always negative. “It’s great, but…” And then the misery begins. I taught myself how to dump the word ‘but’ a long time ago and replace it by ‘and.’ Give it a shot. It might seem forced in the beginning but it’s a lot nicer for the person on the receiving end. “I read your article and I think if you give it another critical read through and replace the clichés with your own metaphors it’s going to be great.” Sounds a lot better than: “I read your article but about those clichés…”

3. Points of improvement

This is an extension of the above mentioned point. Never say something was ‘wrong.’ You have to assume that everyone around you is working hard. The word ‘wrong’ is so harsh and it’ll deprive you from working your ass of the next time round. Call ‘mistakes’ ‘points of improvement’ and then see what happens.

4. Find a solution first

Something has gone terribly wrong. This happens to be one of those moments when everyone starts pointing fingers trying to find someone to blame. Stop. Find a solution first and then see how the problem can be avoided in the future. Before you know it you’ll notice that people will be more admitting to things they might not have done too well.

5. Show responsibility

Learn to delegate if you want to take a step up the ladder. And delegating means letting go. And yes, it may not always work as well as you would hope, but everyone has to deal with a bit of trial and error. If you give people the right kind of guidance with the above mentioned points (and because overall you’re a great person), you’ll be surprised. And people are going to start handing in work you would have never thought of – and that is exactly when you’re going to be truly content as a supervisor.