People Management

 

Praise vs. Criticism — Achieving Balance

 

In today's competitive world, criticisms will nearly always outnumber praise and a shortage of time often leads managers and parents to give both at the same time — not an effective strategy for encouraging or discouraging behaviours: e.g. “You did a great job on the dishes but your bedroom’s a real mess!”

 

Since there is no perception without contrast, praise is diminished without criticism and vice versa. We need a mixture of both.

 

Here are some tips on how to praise:

 

1. Give specific praise and avoid meaningless generalisations.
2. Always praise better than expected results or actions.
3. Use ‘stand alone’ praise and don’t mix it with any criticism.
4. Praise as close in time to the person's action as possible. Waiting until long after the event has less impact.
5. Be authentic. Don’t praise simply because you think you should or only on special occasions.

 ?and how to criticise:

 

1. Criticise the action not the person. This is more dispassionate and less accusatory.
2. As when praising, give specifics — it’s the examples and details that contain the ‘learning’.
3. Offer suggestions on what the person can do to improve. These are the keys of constructive criticism.
4. Invite the other person to join you in thinking of ideas to improve.
5. Be assertive in your criticism in an honest straightforward way. Avoid half truths, gossip and bringing in other peoples names.
6. Most importantly, always criticise in private. Public criticism will humiliate the person and bystanders will often take sides — and it might not be yours!