Studies show that giving and receiving criticism is one of the most difficult interpersonal skills. Being able to accept and give criticism that is focused on the behaviour and not the person is a key ingredient for success. This session covers several strategies and techniques to build confidence to separate emotion from the situation of receiving or giving constructive criticism.

1. Dr Tim Baker
tim@winnersatwork.com.au
www.winnersatwork.com.au
Giving & Receiving
Constructive Criticism

2. Unit 1—The Five Approaches to
Dealing with Conflict
Unit 2—Understanding People
& their Personalities
Unit 3—Managing Emotion in
Conflict Situations
Unit 4—Being Assertive, Not
Aggressive or Passive
Unit 5—Essential
Communication Skills for
Conflict Resolution
Unit 6—Giving & Receiving
Constructive Criticism

3. How frequently do you give feedback (positive &
constructive) to your team members
• Everyday
• Weekly
• Monthly
• Rarely

6. Roughly by a three to one margin, employees
believe that constructive feedback does more to
improve their performance than positive feedback
The secret to having employees listen to your
feedback is whether or not they respect you.
Respect is earned, incredibly hard to get, and
requires authenticity.
You could have the
exact same thing said
by two different
people with two
completely different
effects.

7. 1. What are my expectations as the leader?
2. Have I communicated these expectations to my team?
3. Do my team understand my expectations?
4. Do my team members accept my expectations?
5. Are my team members committed to meeting those expectations?
6. Do my team members know how they are performing against those expectations?
7. Am I supporting my team members to achieve those expectations?

8. Timing

9. Specific

10. Make your feedback specific
“Overall good job on the
presentation at this
morning’s meeting. But it
could have been better.”
This is so vague. What was
wrong with it. Plus, just
because you didn’t like it,
does it necessarily mean it is
bad? How could it have been
better?
“Great job on the presentation!
I really like how you used
statistics to back up your key
points.
One small comment: Maybe for
next time would be to invite
more comments from the group
to get them more involved.”
Finish your sentence …

11. Frequency

12. Questions

13. Privacy

14. Critical Incidents

15. Focus on
the future

16. Avoid
confrontation
& argument
Emphasis
strengths as
well as
weaknesses
Seek out
the causes

17. Giving upward feedback
You can say something
like:
“Would it be helpful to
you for me to give you
feedback at certain points
in this project?”
“Would you like some
feedback about how the
project is going?”

18. Giving upward feedback
• Before giving feedback,
you need to gauge
whether your boss will
be open to what you
have to say.
• If you know that your
manager is unreceptive
to feedback, is likely to
react negatively, or if
you have a rocky
relationship, it's better
not to say anything.

20. Giving upward feedback
• Even if you have a great
relationship, launching
into unsolicited
feedback is ill-advised.
• If your manager does
not directly request
feedback, you can ask if
he or she would like
feedback.
• This is often most easily
done in the context of a
new project.

21. Your homework
Invite feedback & give & receive
feedback constructively.

22. Unit 1—The Five Approaches to
Dealing with Conflict
Unit 2—Understanding People
& their Personalities
Unit 3—Managing Emotion in
Conflict Situations
Unit 4—Being Assertive, Not
Aggressive or Passive
Unit 5—Essential
Communication Skills for
Conflict Resolution
Unit 6—Giving & Receiving
Constructive Criticism