Truth 14. When giving feedback: criticize behaviors, not people

It seems pretty simple, but it’s amazing how many managers ignore this advice when giving feedback to employees: Criticize employee behaviors, not the people themselves. Successful feedback focuses on specific behavior and is impersonal.

Feedback should be specific rather than general. Managers should avoid making statements like, “You have a bad attitude” or “I’m really impressed with the good job you did.” These types of statements are vague and, while they provide information, they don’t tell the employee enough to correct the “bad attitude” or on what basis it was concluded that a “good job” had been done. For clarity, here are some examples of what good feedback is like: “Bob, I’m concerned with your attitude toward your work. You were a half-hour late to yesterday’s staff meeting, and then you told me you hadn’t read the preliminary report we were discussing. Today you tell me you’re taking off three hours early for a dental appointment”; or “Jan, I was really pleased with the job you did on the Phillips account. They increased their purchases from us by 22 percent last month, and I got a call a few days ago from Dan Phillips complimenting me on how quickly you responded to those specification changes for the MJ-7 microchip.” Both of these statements focus on specific behaviors. They tell the recipient why you are being critical or complimentary.