In my last post, I explained how a piece of constructive criticism and associated advice pretty much saved my professional life. As painful as it was to hear, the feedback my instructor offered was invaluable.
I'm going to gripe a little here -- I get really annoyed when someone offers negative feedback without adding a suggested solution. Destructive criticism is not only harsh, but it can often be pointless and even counterproductive.
The provision of useful feedback can be used to crush the blame game as well. Finger pointing tends to be largely ineffectual, and it's a great way to make people not like you. I would hope one would focus on how to fix the fault rather than focus on who's at fault. Tearing others down by associating them with a mishap, mistake, or missed goal is not going to solve any problem. Bypass the blame by providing a way to move forward.
And then you have your two-faced critics who mutter discontent to everyone but to whom would matter the most -- the ones they find discontenting. For the sake of progress, please be direct and offer advice where you see fit! All the while, be gentle and keep open-minded opinions while focusing on the real goal(s) at hand.
Obvious stuff, right? I'd like to make it a point this week to put my own constructive criticism to action, and I encourage others to follow -- for our constant leap into improvement.
To make it easier, here are some wonderfully cheesy illustrations and tips on how to criticize constructively.
No comments:
Post a Comment