{"id":21926,"date":"2021-01-01T19:18:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-01T23:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=21926"},"modified":"2021-01-04T20:31:23","modified_gmt":"2021-01-05T00:31:23","slug":"public-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/public-criticism\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Criticism: It&#8217;s Only Okay for the Boss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is public criticism and why is it problematic? Are there situations that it is okay to use a public venue for critiques?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Public criticism is an open forum in which negative feedback is offered to someone where everyone else can hear. In <em>Radical Candor<\/em>, Kim Scott cautions that employee criticism should always be private but a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/culture-of-candor\/\">culture of candor<\/a> can be enhanced by the boss receiving public criticism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading for how and why you should ask for public criticism as a manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Request Public Criticism&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Criticism of your employees should <em>always<\/em> happen in private, but as the boss, you need to be willing to be publicly criticized. This accomplishes several goals. First, you demonstrate to your team that there\u2019s value in criticism, and that its intent is to make everyone better at their jobs\u2014<em>not<\/em> to be hurtful. Second, responding well to criticism establishes you as a strong leader who isn\u2019t afraid to make mistakes and is open to learning. And third, public criticism allows you to get everyone\u2019s feedback as efficiently as possible\u2014if you have a big team, you\u2019d miss out on hearing many of your employees\u2019 voices because it\u2019s impossible to schedule everyone for a meeting. Furthermore, you\u2019ll save time by hearing each criticism <em>once<\/em>, instead of over and over again across multiple meetings.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your employees will likely be hesitant to jump into this conversation, so you should find a team member who seems comfortable giving you feedback. Ask them to offer some criticism or disagreement at the next staff meeting. They might <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/be-uncomfortable\/\">be uncomfortable<\/a> with the request, but don\u2019t back down on it\u2014explain why it\u2019s important to you to get feedback that everyone can see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Kick Things Off With a Question<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s often uncomfortable for employees to criticize their boss, so keep a close eye on the balance of praise and criticism you\u2019re receiving in public feedback sessions. If you find you\u2019re getting mostly praise, <em>directly<\/em> ask for criticism. Asking questions can provide a jumping-off point for coming up with issues that need addressing, and helps cut through the discomfort of offering criticism. Helpful questions include, \u201cHow can I better support you?\u201d or, \u201cWhat is something I\u2019m doing that you find frustrating?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Public Praise, Private Criticism<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As a general rule of thumb, you should always default to giving praise in public and criticism in private\u2014public praise tends to be more meaningful for the recipient and demonstrates what your team should do more of. On the other hand, public criticism tends to trigger defensiveness.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When giving praise, pay attention to what kind of attention your employees appreciate. Some of them will love public acknowledgment of their accomplishments, and others will find it unbearably embarrassing. Figure out what kind of praise will make them feel best. Keep in mind that this practice will become easier over time, as you practice \u201ccaring personally\u201d and get to know your employees better.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When it comes to criticism, make sure your team understands the difference between criticism and debate and disagreements, which are important parts of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/methods-of-decision-making-crucial-conversations\/\">decision-making<\/a> and discussion. For example, saying \u201cI disagree with this idea\u201d is fair game for a public conversation. On the other hand, \u201cYou\u2019ve been handing in a lot of reports full of typos lately, and I\u2019m starting to question your commitment to this project. Can you explain what\u2019s going on?\u201d needs to be privately discussed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Think before you Reply All:<\/strong> when it comes to praise, replying all to give a quick shoutout is a simple, unembarrassing way to give praise and show recognition for efforts. However, <em>never<\/em> reply all with criticism\u2014even if there\u2019s an error in something sent out, contact the sender directly and ask <em>them <\/em>to send out the correction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is public criticism and why is it problematic? Are there situations that it is okay to use a public venue for critiques? Public criticism is an open forum in which negative feedback is offered to someone where everyone else can hear. In Radical Candor, Kim Scott cautions that employee criticism should always be private but a culture of candor can be enhanced by the boss receiving public criticism. Keep reading for how and why you should ask for public criticism as a manager.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":10099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,14,42],"tags":[177],"class_list":["post-21926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-management","category-motivation","tag-radical-candor","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Public Criticism: It&#039;s Only Okay for the Boss - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Should you criticize your employees in public? No! But, you should allow them to offer you public criticism. 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