Constructive Criticism

Telling people what they don't want to hear is never easy.  People can receive that feedback a few ways.  Some will take that information and use that to try to get better, while others may get upset and feel like they are being unfairly criticized. You can't always control how your criticism may be received, but here are some helpful tips on how to make your criticism as constructive as you can: 

Prepare: Before approaching an individual, know what you want to say. Know what the issues are and what areas need improvement. Avoid singling a person out in front of a group. Knee jerk reactions often times have a negative effect. Take your time, have your facts straight, and wait for a time that you can speak to that person in a professional manner. 

Delivery: There may be times where you have to tell a person exactly what is needed to be done. Other times you may just offer advice and suggestions on how things could be improved upon. When offering advice, try not to come across as if everything they are doing is wrong.  Compliment the person on what you like about what they are doing, and then offer areas where you might make some changes. Thank them for their effort. 

Criticize the action, not the person: You want to focus this conversation on the action that the person is doing, not directly at them as a person. Failure to do this could result in the individual receiving the criticism as an attack on them personally and not the job they are doing. 

Clarity: Make sure that when the conversation is over, the person fully understands your stance and what is expected of them in the future. Follow up with an email so you have documentation of the conversation. 

Compliment: If the criticism is received well and a commitment to make some changes is made, be sure to take notice. One of the worst things you can do as a supervisor is to always focus on what's not being done correctly, and fail to compliment your staff on a job well done. Take notice of an employee putting forth the effort and making progress.

Follow up: Set a time to follow up on the conversation.  Depending on the issue at hand, you could check back the next day, or on a weekly basis to monitor progress.