Let’s imagine it was peak season. In a few days, your team will have to deliver a massive project to a client. As the team lead, you are in charge of quality control – however, one of your underlings has given you a pile of dribble that is about as far away from the project brief as our planet is to the sun. In the past, we’ve talked about how important it is to take warranted feedback properly, but what do we do when the tables are turned? How exactly do you make sure that your criticism is constructive and not just a furious bashing of the unfortunate soul’s “work”? Join Wordsmith as we explore the intricacies of providing useful feedback.
What’s the difference and how do we do it?
What sets apart constructive criticism from mere opinion? The key takeaways. Criticism that is unusable will only show negativity – like someone leaving a nasty 0 star restaurant review on OpenRice or Yelp with just an “it sucked” comment. Why did it suck? Was there anything commendable about the meal? How can the restaurant possibly improve? This is the defining point between baseless opinion and constructive criticism.
According to Entrepreneur contributor Scott Halford, an Emmy Award-winning writer and expert on leadership and speaking, there are several key steps to providing good criticism:
1. Create safety and be tough, not mean
Research from the Columbia University shows that people only apply feedback 30 percent of the time – the discomfort experienced during a bad feedback session is correlated to unproductiveness. Halford points out that maintaining civility is essential (especially if you and your colleague aren’t very close). “Don’t be mean-spirited. Your feedback usually won’t be productive if it’s focused on making the other person feel bad or make them look foolish in front of peers,” he explains. “Instead, create opportunities to build confidence and skills.”
Don’t:
“What are you doing Steve? You call this garbage acceptable? Get back in there and give me something I can use and I don’t care if you stay late tonight, I need this today!”
Do:
“Steve, this material won’t do. Here’s the list of revisions. There’s quite a lot and you may need to stay later tonight, but we all need to make sure this project gets done by day end.”
2. Be positive and be specific
There’s a bit of a preconception that criticism always has to be negative. Well it doesn’t! Halford recommends providing positive feedback equivalent to the amount of negative. “Positive feedback stimulates the reward centres in the brain, leaving the recipient open to taking new direction, Meanwhile, negative feedback indicates that an adjustment needs to be made and the threat response turns on and defensiveness sets in.”
No one likes to have their work criticised. Remember, the reason why you are giving feedback is because you want the project to be as well polished as possible. Competent employees will understand their mistakes and learn from them, whereas you as the supervisor needs to ensure that they have the opportunity to improve – denigrating them rarely inspires positive change.
Furthermore, be as specific as you can and take out any ambiguity. In advertising, we always dread seeing client comments that go “I don’t like this, can you provide more options?” because it doesn’t give us any particular direction to go off of – in which case, it’s more about spending time brute forcing out different options and directions and praying that there’s something usable. The same can be said about your criticism if you don’t help to identify the problem. “Say something specific and positive pointed at the task that you want accomplished,” suggests Halford.
Don’t:
“These revisions are awful, Steve. You did the bare minimum and it shows in your work. Try harder.”
Do:
“Thanks for the revisions Steve, but there are still some things that need more work. I like the new headline direction, but the wording isn’t quite there yet. Give the copy another go and use words that fit the brand’s personality – for example, you used terms like ‘cool’ and ‘sexy’, but this is a campaign for a new Kellogg’s children’s breakfast cereal. I think ‘cool’ is workable, but the product doesn’t automatically become cool because we say it is. Have a think about how we can better convince children that eating the cereal is cool. Does it give them a confidence boost for school? Will they be more at ease with themselves in new environments? Scenarios are a good first step.”
3. Be immediate
“The adult brain learns best by being caught in action,” says Halford. Urgency is the best motivation, as they say. If you are unsatisfied with a colleague’s work, don’t wait weeks or months until the next employee evaluation day – let them know now. “If you wait three months to tell someone that his or her performance is average, he or she usually can’t grasp the changes needed in order to change direction. It’s far too ambiguous and relies on memory, which can be faulty. Productive feedback requires giving it frequently.”
Don’t: (On evaluation day)
“Steve, I was not impressed with your work on the Kellogg’s project 7 months ago. I need you to step up your game or else I’m not sure I want you in my future projects.”
Do: (During the project)
“Steve, I have some issues with your writing so far. I think it’s better that you know about this now so that you can work on it now instead of it being an afterthought and a problem again later down the line. I’ve noted a list of things that you need to work on here. Let me know if there’s anything you don’t understand.”
Criticism comes in many forms, but without a specific direction for what needs to change, it can fall upon deaf ears. Yes, being criticised may inevitably cause some emotional duress, but remember you are criticising your colleagues because you want them to improve. A calm and cool approach with an identifiable problem is always the way to go – whether you are the one criticising or the one being criticised!