The Trouble with Critical Feedback

How do you respond to a situation that provides only critical feedback?

Have you ever worked with someone who only provides feedback on how you can get better, without ever acknowledging what you are doing right?

How did that feel?

We need critical feedback. We need to know which areas we can improve and how to do that. The trouble is, if that's all we receive it wears us down, wears us out and wearies us. Surely, there are some things that work. Absolutely, there are things we are doing that we should continue. We need to know those.

Critical feedback without positive feedback does more harm than good.

As high performance and centered leaders, the ratio of positive feedback to critical feedback should be 5:1. Try it. It creates a momentum that propels performance so far forward that critical feedback may not even be necessary. Reinforce what is working and you'll get more of what is working.

What positive feedback can you provide today?

-- Douglas Brent Smith

Comments

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