How to Give and Respond to Constructive Criticism

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What is constructive criticism?

Constructive criticism is feedback that helps people improve at their jobs. The idea behind constructive criticism is to evaluate someone’s performance and offer insightful advice for self-improvement by giving feedback on positive and negative aspects of their work in a friendly, collaborative way.

How to give constructive criticism

To give constructive criticism to someone, follow these steps:

1. Firstly, give two positive comments for each negative one

It is always easier to accept a negative comment when it is closely followed and preceded by positive words of encouragement. Giving advice or feedback about someone’s work inevitably means discussing things they aren’t doing well enough. To make a negative comment easier to accept, wrap it around positivity. 

For example, if an employee’s presentations skills are lacking a certain quality, you can first complement some other aspect of their communication skills, give your feedback about needing to improve their presentation skills and then end this criticism by complementing their courage for being willing to engage in public speaking in the first place. 

2. Secondly, be specific and stick to the facts

Never provide vague feedback to someone that they can’t use to take action and improve. You need to be specific and you should always use well-reasoned criticism that is grounded in facts rather than generalities. 

For example, if an employee arrives in the office late quite often, instead of saying to that person that they are irresponsible, tell them they can work on improving their time management and give specific examples of days when they came to the office late. 

3. Thirdly, focus on opportunities

A good way to reconsider exactly how you frame a negative aspect of someone’s performance is to approach that same aspect as an opportunity. People are more likely to feel motivated to take the opportunity to get better at something instead of trying to get rid of something bad. 

For example, if you want to discuss an employee’s poor organization skills, try to frame what you say in such a way that the employee sees this as an opportunity to better manage their workload.  

4. Fourthly, keep it private

It is always a better idea to discuss someone’s work performance in a private setting because nobody enjoys having their abilities evaluated in front of other people. Constructive criticism is all about providing valuable feedback to people to help them get better at something. It is unlikely the person receiving the criticism will get any value from it if you say it publicly. Arrange a one-on-one conversation to improve the person’s receptivity to what you have to say. 

5. Finally, consider your own emotional state

The emotional state of the person providing constructive feedback can influence how productive that feedback actually is. Before giving feedback, consider how you feel. If you feel angry or irritated by something that either happened at work or in your personal life, it’s likely that emotional state will carry over to the feedback you give to an employee. The point of constructive criticism is that you give it in a friendly tone rather than an oppositional tone, and your emotional state influences this more than you may think. 

You should always approach constructive criticism with the mindset that you want to help that person improve. If you need to provide some feedback that could be tough to hear, it is still important to address it rather than to avoid it. A well-prepared person can take constructive criticism on board and use it as motivation to get better. 

How to respond to constructive criticism

Here is how to handle receiving constructive criticism:

1. Firstly, be mindful of your reaction

Practice the skill of being mindful of your reactions to situations. Mindfulness means to be fully aware of the present situation in a nonjudgmental way. The first reaction when hearing a critical comment is often to change your facial expression, alter your body language or respond in a defensive way. The ability to be mindful of your reaction lets you observe that initial internal feeling of negativity and understand that it will pass. 

2. Secondly, remember that feedback helps you improve

Remember that any feedback, no matter how negative it initially sounds in your mind, always has a positive side to it. An important skill is to be able to reframe seemingly negative events, ideas and criticism to see the positive side. All feedback at work gives you the chance to improve in certain areas of your skill set that you are not meeting expectations in. When you see criticism as an opportunity to get better at something, you feel more positive about it than you first felt.  

3. Thirdly, listen closely to criticism

Listen closely to the exact details of the critical comments. The skill of being able to listen to what someone is saying is a key part of being a good communicator. Let the person criticizing you speak without interruption and try to absorb everything they are saying. The mindfulness and reframing skills from previous steps put you in a prime position to understand the perspective of the person giving you constructive feedback. 

4. Fourthly, seek clarity to fully understand the issue

Seek clarity if necessary. Sometimes a person giving you criticism might not be specific enough in highlighting the problem. Constructive criticism is a two-way dialogue, and you should seek clarity if you still aren’t entirely sure what the exact issue is. For example, you can acknowledge you were perhaps a bit dominant and overbearing during a meeting and ask exactly when during that meeting you spoke over others or didn’t give people a chance to have their say. 

5. Finally, be grateful

Practice gratitude so that both parties walk away from the dialogue feeling positive. Look the person giving you criticism in the eye and thank them for acknowledging the effort they took to share their thoughts with you. It never feels good giving criticism and thanking someone for doing it is a nice positive way to finish the discussion. 

It is never easy to hear things about yourself that aren’t up to the expected standard, but if you apply these steps, you’ll be much better prepared to take any constructive criticism on board and use it to improve yourself.