Your managers are busy. They have a ton of duties to juggle, only one of which is instructing and giving feedback to employees. And often, it’s the same feedback over and over again.
So why is it that some employees seem to need to be told the same thing more than once? One answer is that the employee either isn’t paying attention, or perhaps lacks the ability to quickly or adequately integrate feedback into his or her job performance. Another answer may be that some employees just aren’t as adaptable as others.
But it could also be how their feedback is being delivered.
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Sometimes, the difference between constructive and unconstructive criticism can be as simple as how the feedback is worded. The following are two examples of the same feedback, phrased differently to produce different results:
| Unconstructive: |
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| Constructive: |
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| Unconstructive: |
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| Constructive: |
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Ultimately, the keys to making feedback constructive, as opposed to demotivating, are specificity and compassion — you want to be clear about what’s needed and turn the criticism into a launching point for future positive results.
If managers communicate confidence in their employees, it paves the road for employees to be more confident in themselves, and more willing to put in the needed effort going forward.