Have I got your attention? Great.

Let me start by saying that I believe in giving praise when deserved and letting employees know when they dropped the ball. However, the truth is that no one enjoys being reprimanded or told they messed up.  

The question is, what is the appropriate balance between the right amount of praise and the right amount of critical feedback? According to studies done by Harvard Business School, the ratio of praise to critical feedback should be about 6:1 – Six praises for every critical feedback. I am not sure if I agree with that.

From personal experience, I would recommend a lot more praise. The exact ratio doesn’t matter. What’s important is that before you consider giving critical feedback, ensure you have given that employee a lot of recent praise. If not, whatever you are trying to get through to an employee, will fall on deaf ears.

When you do have to give critical feedback, remember a few things:

• Focus on the issue or behavior; never attack the person, and remain calm in your actions and words
• Ask the employee for feedback, their side of the story
• Speak to the employee in private
• Address the issue soon after it happens; never wait
• Don’t rely on second-hand information; it’s always better if you have experienced the situation yourself that you want to correct
• Have an open discussion and find things that both of you can agree upon
• Have an action plan moving forward that the employee can take ownership of
• Use the experience as a learning tool
• Make sure you bring up positive attributes about them
• Remember, you don’t want the employee to be angry or upset with you; you want them to reflect on the situation and what can be improved.

One last thing. Everyone makes mistakes. We need to be mindful of this.