Getting criticism right is critical
By JOY DAVIA
Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle
April Miller was at her fifth interview since her layoff. Midway into the questioning, the manager lobbed this question at Miller: "How do you handle it when your manager gives you constructive criticism?"
Constructive what?
"Right away I kind of laughed," Miller, 39, recalled. "I never received any constructive criticism from a manager."
The electrical engineer has had lots of managers — some she'd see every six months, others who mastered criticism that was actually destructive.
But an actual manager who would sugarcoat zingers with polite and helpful tips? Not so much.
Such worker feedback shouldn't be an anomaly. A worker won't grow professionally if bosses-mentors-colleagues don't help him or her correct weaknesses.
The problem?
Too many bosses dread giving subordinates feedback, fearing confrontation. Or they were never schooled in the correct way to give such critiques, said Sharon Melville, the director of business services at Career Development Services in Rochester, N.Y.
Melville recalled worker horror stories, such as an employee who nailed a big report but had a boss who just obsessed over the wrong color of paper it was printed on.
"If feedback isn't done the right way, it can anger, hurt and demoralize workers," she said. "It can literally paralyze the employee. They know what they're doing wrong but don't know how to correct it."
Some tips?
A boss, talking to a too-negative worker, could say: "In our staff meeting, you shot down every person's ideas. As a result of this, nobody wanted to put new ideas on the table."
Just remember: An insensitive, nagging boss might only put the worker on the defensive.
Miller recalled the not-so-nice criticism she got from a boss after she told other workers that a project wouldn't meet deadlines. Her boss repeatedly told her: "You're being negative. Stop it."
"It didn't make me want to change," Miller said. "I knew I wasn't being negative — I was just being truthful. It was kind of difficult not to dig my heels in because I believed that this was the way it was. I was hurt that I wasn't being understood."
Managers — charged with hiring, developing and retaining workers — need to offer constructive criticism to meet that developmental responsibility, added Kathleen Pringle, president of Predictive Insights, a career navigation and talent management firm.
"What is the No. 1 value that employees today want but costs the organization nothing? Appreciation," she said.
"After all, if you're dishing out criticism in a nonconstructive way, the company runs the risk of losing a valuable asset, which is the person."
