{"id":59684,"date":"2022-02-14T12:20:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-14T16:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=59684"},"modified":"2022-02-14T14:38:56","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T18:38:56","slug":"how-to-give-constructive-feedback-be-positive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-give-constructive-feedback-be-positive\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Give Constructive Feedback: Be Positive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is the key to giving effective constructive feedback? Should you emphasize positive or negative aspects of someone’s performance when delivering feedback<\/a>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Rolf Dobelli, the author of The Art of Thinking Clearly<\/em>, people better accept and implement feedback that is framed in a positive than a negative way. This is because of the psychological phenomenon called the feature-positive effect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s how to give constructive feedback<\/a>, according to Rolf Dobelli. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Feature-Positive Effect<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In his book The Art of Thinking Clearly<\/em>, Rolf Dobelli explains how to give constructive feedback using the feature-positive effect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The feature-positive effect is a tendency to pay attention to the most flashy or ostentatious information around you, failing to notice when things aren\u2019t <\/em>present. For example, if you\u2019re distracted by being late for work, you might not notice your phone isn\u2019t in your pocket. (Shortform note: The exception is when you\u2019re an expert in your field<\/a>. Experts notice excluded information based on past experience of similar situations, while novices and moderately knowledgeable individuals don\u2019t.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People better take on the advice that is framed in a positive way. This doesn\u2019t just mean \u201cpositive\u201d in terms of constructive: It means telling someone to do something is more effective than telling them to stop doing something.<\/strong> For example, \u201cEat more vegetables\u201d is more effective advice than \u201cStop eating sugar\u201d because the inclusion of one food group is easier for your brain to process than the absence of another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Give Effective Constructive Feedback<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Good constructive criticism is specific and actionable<\/a>, which lends itself to describing what should<\/em> be done. To illustrate this, let\u2019s look at an example of non-constructive, negative feedback and an example of constructive, positive feedback:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStop dragging your heels with the filing\u201d isn’t specific because it uses a metaphor, rather than describing a specific behavior. It\u2019s not actionable because no specific action has been outlined, and it\u2019s not positive because it tells you to stop<\/em> doing something rather than telling you to do something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, \u201cOnly reply to your emails in the morning so you can file five cases a day\u201d is specific because it gives a particular behavior (replying to emails) and a reason for implementing it (so you can file five cases a day). It\u2019s actionable because it provides a specific action (replying in the morning), and it\u2019s positive because it talks about what should be done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the key to giving effective constructive feedback? Should you emphasize positive or negative aspects of someone’s performance when delivering feedback? According to Rolf Dobelli, the author of The Art of Thinking Clearly, people better accept and implement feedback that is framed in a positive than a negative way. This is because of the psychological phenomenon called the feature-positive effect. Here’s how to give constructive feedback, according to Rolf Dobelli.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":13415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,9],"tags":[576],"class_list":["post-59684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-psychology","tag-the-art-of-thinking-clearly","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Give Constructive Feedback: Be Positive - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Constructive feedback should be specific, actionable, and framed in a positive way. 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