Most people are sensitive to criticism. Whether it's criticism at work or personal criticism. In a number of situations, criticism is indispensable, but it is within our power to make it useful. In psychology, useful criticism is called constructive feedback. Its goal is to help a person advance in his development. There are a number of simple rules, the observance of which will make your criticism developmental and reduce or eliminate the negative reaction to your words of the person you are criticizing.
RULE 1. USEFUL CRITICISM POSITIVE
Criticism must be balanced. It is usually tempting to immediately point out to a person his mistakes. But such a beginning will cause tension in your counterpart, and it will be difficult for him to perceive the essence of your remarks.
Always start by identifying what you like about the person's work. Before pointing out mistakes to him, emphasize what you see and the advantages in his work. Make two or three positive accents, and only then move on to your comments.
Strike a balance between positive and negative. If you mentioned two or three positive points, then name the same or one more negative ones.
RULE 2. USEFUL CRITICISM - SPECIFIC
Your comments - both positive and negative - should be specific. Avoid phrases like "everything is great!" or "you are doing everything wrong!" With these phrases, you are not giving a person useful information for his development.
Try to articulate what specifically you like or dislike about a person's work or behavior. For example, if you criticize a person's appearance, tell them that they chose the color of their clothes well, but they didn't guess the length.
RULE 3. USEFUL CRITICISM HELPS DEVELOPMENT
Useful criticism should always relate to those manifestations, properties, qualities of a person and his work that he is able to change. You should not point to a too high or low timbre of a voice, a violent temperament or drowsiness of a person in the morning. A person will not be able to change this, and your relationship will be ruined.
When criticizing, always offer a solution. Instead of pointing out a flaw, immediately point out the direction of development. For example, instead of "you do not observe punctuation at all in your texts", say "I would check the placement of punctuation marks before passing." If you do not have options for a solution, invite the person to think together and look for them.
FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS
To help a person take into account their mistakes, it is necessary to approach criticism of his work or behavior with a positive attitude. You yourself, criticizing, should keep in mind why you are doing this. Help the person sincerely, suggest ways to correct his mistakes, and he will be grateful to you.
Criticism must be timely. Give feedback to the person when he is ready to receive it and when it is still relevant to him.
When giving feedback, check that the person understood you correctly. Ask him to retell how your comments sound to him. Correct if he misunderstood you.
Helpful criticism should be engaging and shared. Make sure the person agrees with you, that they understand how to correct their mistakes, and that you part with them on a friendly note.
