Being a manager you should be able to effectively communicate with your employees the standard of their work and where they need improvement. It shows your employees you care about their performance and you want them to improve work-related weaknesses if there are any. One way to do that without being negative and rude is through constructive feedback aka constructive criticism.
Constructive feedback is a way to guide, suggest or advise employees in order to improve the quality of their work without throwing harsh opinions. Constructive criticism makes giving feedback less painful and when used in the right way, it helps employees become the best version of themselves.
To effectively deliver constructive feedback, managers should identify the areas of concern and weaknesses and provide examples to help employees improve.
In this article as we go through constructive feedback, we will see its examples for you to learn what constructive criticism looks like. Let’s first see why you should give constructive criticism to employees, peers, and managers.
Why You Should Give Constructive Criticism
There are many reasons why you should give constructive feedback to others:
It Makes Employees Feel Valued
When you give constructive criticism to your employees, they feel you care for them. It makes them think you value them and therefore you want to see them improve their work quality. Gallup found that employees who said their managers focused on their weaknesses instead of their strengths are 22.5 times more likely to be engaged than those who are ignored.
Helps Them Improve
The ability to give constructive feedback is one of the critical keys to leadership and an essential skill to boost your team’s performance. A survey tells us that 72% of participants think constructive feedback can improve their performance.
How to Give Constructive Feedback?
When it comes to giving feedback there are a few do’s and don’ts to consider. Let’s look at them:
Do Add Something Positive
When you are about to give someone constructive feedback, you must include and begin with something positive. It gives them the idea that they are not all wrong and just a little needs improvement. The feedback shouldn’t feel like a personal attack on the person receiving it.
Don’t Sugarcoat
Although it is great to add something positive when giving constructive feedback, you should not sugarcoat it. When it comes to giving feedback you should ve as clear and specific as possible. Sugarcoating something leaves the person confused into thinking other stuff.
Don’t Overgenaralize
When you overgeneralize something, you aren’t being specific. Overgeneralized examples mean nothing to your employees. Sentences like ‘Everyone has been saying’ should be avoided. Not only does that lose the true essence of constructive feedback, but it also makes the person feel ganged up on. When offering constructive feedback you should have the courage to do it alone without bringing everyone else into the matter.
What to Do When You Receive Feedback?
Assume Good
When you receive feedback, it doesn’t mean it will always be something negative, When receiving feedback always assume the good. Think that the person giving you feedback wants you to improve.
Follow Up
When you receive feedback from someone, you should start improving yourself. Next, you must always follow up with them to see if you’re doing better than the last time. his gives you a chance to get their perspective on whether or not they’ve witnessed a positive change in that area, and if there’s anything else you could be doing to give yourself a boost.
Constructive Feedback Examples for Employees
Let’s first go through employee constructive feedback examples:
Example 1
An Employee Whose Turning in Assignments Late
Constructive feedback will be:
“James, I really appreciate how you always put in the best effort you can in your deliverables. However, something that I’ve been noticing over the past two weeks is you have not been able to meet deadlines for most of your assignments which is unlike you. I, therefore, wanted to check in on you and see if there’s something I can do to help you be on time.”
Example 2
An Employees Whose Performance is Deteriorating
Constructive criticism will be like this:
“Charles, you truly are a great employee. The quality of your deliverables has been unmatched ever since you joined us. However, I am slightly concerned that your performance hasn’t been up to the mark for the past month. Since you’re truly an asset to this organization, I would like to know why that may be happening. In addition, I would offer my support and help in any case. I would love to see you get back on track in no time just like before.“
Example 3
An Employee Whose Late to the Meetings
“Kim, your passion and talent for sales keep our team inspired and excited. I truly admire your skills and the enthusiasm you show when dealing with clients. However, it has come to my notice that you’re late to the team meetings for the past two months. The team meetings are important since we discuss the progress we made thus far and all the important decision we need to make. It is therefore important that you attend these meetings with the same enthusiasm.”
Example 4
An Employee Shows Bad Behavior
“Kevin, I wanted to talk to you about your behavior that has come to my attention over the last few days. I have been getting domains that you’ve been ignoring people and rolling eyes at them. It seems you’re irritated by something and lack the interest to work. Is there something that I can do to make you enjoy work like before? You can also talk to me if there’s something bothering you at work. I would be happy to help you.”
Example 5
An Employee Who Rarely Socializes
“Jay, you are an excellent digital marketer. Having you on the team has bought this company many moments of success especially when it comes to raising the conversion rate. However, one thing that I have noticed is that you don’t seem to talk a lot at work. In fact, I have often seen you sitting alone. I wanted to talk about why that may be happening. If you feel comfortable, you can talk to me about it all. I would love for you to make some friends at work and socialize more often. It will help you be happy and more engaged at work.”
Constructive Feedback Examples for Peers
Let’s see some peer feedback examples:
Example 1
A Peer Who Speaks Over Others
“Katy, you’re a good coworker and I’ve really enjoyed working with you over the past year. However, one thing that I find slightly concerning us is that you speak over others. Although it’s good to raise an opinion it’s also important to let others finish what they have to say first. In this way, everyone will feel they’re valued and heard at this organization. It would make me very happy if you do that.”
Example 2
A Peer Who has Poor Communication Skills
“Ali, you’re a truly hardworking person. Your passion and stamina at work is inspiring for many of us here. However, one thing that’s stopping you from being the best is your lack of good communication skills. Although you might be aware of that yourself too, I wanted to help you improve that. If you focus on improving these skills once a week, you can become an even better version of yourself. I also wanted you to know that I am here for you if you need any sort of assistance.”
Example 3
A Peer With Decreased Productivity
“Justin, when it comes to working with motivation and enthusiasm, we cannot think of another name but yours. However, I have noticed that you aren’t performing as productively as you used to do. I am concerned about why that may be happening, If there’s something you’d like to talk about, I am here for you. If there is anything that any one of us can do to make you perform better, don’t shy away from telling.”
Example 4
A Peer With Toxic Attitude
“Tom, there are a few things about your attitude that I find highly discouraging. Sometimes, feel mentally drained within your presence. Secondly, I dislike your snide remarks on others as they highly demotivate people. I wanted to take a moment to discuss with you these things only if you are comfortable. I’d really love for you to talk to me about this and solve the issue together so that we can work together as a good team.”
Example 5
A peer who Indulges in Office Gossip
“Billy, I wanted to talk to you about something that I have been concerned about lately. I found out you indulge in office gossip with a few others. See, talking behind others’ backs breaks the trust of many good people around us. Not only is gossip bad but judging others akes you nowhere in life. I want all of us to build a positive am healthy environment where each one of us lifts the other and helios them grow. I am sure you will bring a positive change in yourself very soon.”
Constructive Feedback Examples for Managers
Given below are a few constructive feedback to manager examples:
Example 1
A Manager Who Doesn’t Guide Enough
“Seth, I know you’re a busy man, and I understand you have got a lot on your plate. I however wanted to talk to you if you could show me a little more direction. It would really help me if you could have regular follow-ups. That way I am sure I will be able to deliver my best and be on track.”
Example 2
A Manager Who Overburdens Employees
“Dave, after thinking for some time, I have to inform you that I may not be able to work on the latest task you’ve assigned me. I am currently working on closing 3 deals for this week due to which I am unable to give this project the time it needs. Can we talk about lightening the workload a little bit? It will mean a lot to me.”
Example 3
A Manager Who Doesn’t Recognize Enough
“Can I offer you some feedback, Mike? In today’s meeting, you did an awesome job at explaining everything as everyone else did. But I noticed that some people felt demotivated after all the hard work they’ve done. I’m wondering if it is possible to begin the meeting by recognizing some of the team’s recent accomplishments first. This will help the team feel more engaged with the team and will make them feel even more motivated.”
Example 4
A Manager Who Micromanages
“I enjoy the sense of accomplishment I get after completing each of my assigned tasks. But I’m concerned that a lot of my time gets wasted in among reports for all the completed tasks that you ask. It takes away time that I can otherwise utilize on important projects. Would it be possible if I turn in a monthly report of all the completed tasks instead?”
Example 5
A Manager Who Believes in Favoritism
“Robert, I was really looking forward to working with our new client. Could you give me some feedback on why I wasn’t chosen to work with them as I am equally qualified? I would love to overcome any shortcomings that I may have to avoid issues like these in the future.”
Ready to Use These Constructive Feedback Examples?
Giving feedback doesn’t have to be brutal at all. This was our list of some constructive criticism examples for employees, peers, and managers. Let the tips and examples in this post become your guide in dealing with giving and accepting feedback.
