Critiquing People Doesn’t Have to Be Hard
Summary
- I make sure my critiques are based on behaviors the person can control.
- I ensure the employee understands what the critique means and has the necessary baseline skills to act on it.
- Faster and more frequent feedback loops are more effective for improvement.
- I focus on personalizing feedback, addressing individual behavior rather than group behavior.
- I collect data on performance and share it with the person I'm critiquing.
Video
How To Take Action
I would suggest implementing critiques based on behaviors the person can control. This means giving feedback on things they can actually change, like their communication style or punctuality, rather than things outside their control.
A good way to ensure the employee understands the critique is to confirm they have the baseline skills needed. For instance, if telling them to improve their tonality, first make sure they know what that means and how they can work on it. This requires a bit of initial training, but it’s worth it.
Faster and more frequent feedback loops are more effective. This means giving feedback regularly, not saving everything for a monthly meeting. A quick "Hey, your presentation was clear today!" or "Remember to double-check emails before sending" right after an event can make a big difference.
Personalizing feedback is crucial. Address individual behaviors rather than group behaviors. Instead of saying "The team needs to communicate better," say "I've noticed you often miss responding to client emails quickly. Let’s work on that.”
Collect data on performance and share it. This can be as simple as keeping a log of common tasks and noting how well they’re done. Regularly sharing this data with the employee helps them see their progress and areas for improvement, making feedback more concrete and actionable.
Full Transcript
how do we actually critique somebody the first piece is that a critique has to have direct ties to behaviors under their control now the second is that the performer or the employee has to know what the critique means because they have to have the Baseline skills is that you hire somebody and you're like I'm telling them that their tonality sucks but they're not changing their tonality well the reason is because you didn't assess for what Baseline skills were needed doesn't even know what tonality means the Third faster and more frequent feedback loops work best more and faster is always better than less and slower fourth we want to make it personal we want to tie their behavior into their behavior rather than a group last one they also collect the data and then share it with you
