Ten Tips for Delivering Criticism with Care 

Michael Zigarelli 

from: Management by Proverbs

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By most accounts, delivering negative feedback remains one of the greatest workplace challenges, even for senior managers. And when a Christian does this poorly, there's even more at stake since he or she is quickly considered a hypocrite by the person receiving the feedback. So here are ten Biblically-consistent tips to deliver criticism with care:

Do it privately: Public criticism of an employee’s work is humiliating and infuriating.  Besides that, in our hyper-litigious society, it can, in some cases, lead to charges of defamation.  So always deliver negative feedback privately.

Do it personally: It’s usually a mistake to deliver criticism by e-mail, sticky note, or some other impersonal means.  To an employee, that’s cowardly—an attempt to preclude any discussion about the merits of your feedback.  By contrast, a personal, one-on-one discussion encourages dialogue and can promote greater understanding and buy-in.

Get right to the point: Most employees know when their boss has a problem with them.  When you call in an employee, but then tiptoe around what’s really on your mind, it’s both transparent and frustrating for the employee.  Get right to the point.

Keep it in the context of positive performance: It’s essential that the employee understand that you see not only the deficiencies, but also the employee’s contribution to the organization.  To communicate this, a standard managerial line is: “I think that you’re doing great with 90 percent of the work I’ve assigned you.  What we’re going to talk about in the next few minutes, though, is the other 10 percent.”

Speak in terms of I, not you:  Speaking in the first person is an invaluable tool for reducing employee defensiveness.  Structure your criticisms in terms of how you feel, rather than what your employee has allegedly done.  A statement like “I am not understanding this section of your report” tends to be less offensive to the receiving ears than “you are not making sense in this section of your report.”  The former approach communicates the same information, but it puts some onus on you, rather than heaping it all on the other person.

Be specific:  Abstract criticisms (e.g., “you’re performing well below average”) won’t serve your managerial goals nearly as well as more specific feedback.  Rather than categorize the performance (“well below average”), be specific about what’s expected and contrast this with objective facts about what the employee has accomplished.  This will bring into sharper focus the problem that the two of you need to address.

Stick to the facts:  Sticking to the facts means to be objective and to avoid speculative judgments about the causes of misbehavior or under-performance.  Talk about what you know to be true and what you can support with evidence.

Don’t twist the knife: There is no need to repeat a criticism within the same discussion.  Your employee gets the idea.  Also, stick to one problem per conversation, if possible, and avoid resurrecting old problems that have already been resolved. Employees often perceive such piling on as unnecessary and unfair.

Jointly craft a solution: After talking about the problem, try to involve your employee in solving it. When a person has helped craft a solution, that person tends to be more committed to the solution than one that’s simply been handed down from on high.  Pinpoint the problem and then discuss some mutually-agreeable goals as a baseline against which to evaluate future performance. Also, if appropriate, jointly design a development plan to equip your employee to perform better.

Offer feedback regularly: Of course, feedback is a tool that you should use more than once or twice a year.  In fact, it should ideally be a seamless activity.  So when you see an employee doing something wrong (or right), let him or her know about it immediately to correct (or reinforce) that behavior.

Related Article: Ten Commandments for Difficult Conversation

Michael Zigarelli, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Management at Messiah College and the editor of the Christianity9to5.org.