7 Mistakes Bosses Make When Giving Criticism

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Face it, many managers are in their positions because of their time with the company or who they know, not because of their experience or knowledge, not to mention interpersonal skills.
The top brass hear and read the importance of this skill set all the time and even advocate it themselves, but these are just words. They don't have these skills either and they don't see the value of them. It's a shame that the open wounds of this problem are so prevalent in business today, in companies of all sizes and management don’t even know their bleeding.

Chris Trujillo of FL 12:32PM October 07, 2009

My boss practices the "seagull method" of managing. He circles high over head...unseen, out-of-sight and out-of-mind...until one day he swoops in out of the blue and lands just long to crap all over everything before taking off again, leaving me to clean up the mess.

tommywo of TX 9:17PM August 10, 2009

For improving on this important talent management topic! I've included this post in my weekly Rainmaker 'Fab Five' blog picks of the week (found here: http://www.maximizepossibility.com/employee_retention/2009/08/the-rainmaker-fab-five-blog-picks-of-the-week.html) to help my readers out in this important piece of effective management practice.
Be well Alison!

Chris Young of ND 1:22AM August 03, 2009

doing things right and thanking them makes better long-term employees than "catching" them" doing things wrong or half-way and making threats about consequences.
But, then again, I am aware that managers are less and less empowered these days by large corporations to create any implied "commitments" by use of praise.
What a shame.
The employee handbooks used to say, in effect, "Do a good job for us---we'll take care of you." Now its: "By acknowledgement of your receipt of this handbook, you agree that we have a policy of employment at will meaning you can be fired at any time for any reason or no reason."
Citizens have let corporations run over them. Citizens need to have passed different laws relating to the employment culture. But we haven't yet.

Muser of NM 11:27AM July 28, 2009

Not granting any authority over an employee's work but then expecting them to take initiative. This one "works" best when combined with a lack of clear guidelines.

mouse of CA 10:03PM July 27, 2009

I always ask if there is anything additional I can do to assist the person in their effort to be successful that I'm currently not. It's great feedback or reinforcement for me, demonstrates my willingness to facilitate peak performance and that we are a team.
Then, I ask for a committment for the person to keep up their end of the bargain and seal it with a handshake, great eye contact and a positive outlook on a new chapter. Getting buy-in makes a huge difference and this technique works very well for me and others I have coached to use it.
Thanks for the great read!
Karla
http://karlaporter.com

Karla Porter of PA 5:42PM July 27, 2009

I'm surprised to see the biggest one missing. The biggest mistake with criticism is doing it in public. The golden rule of feedback is "praise in public, criticize in private."
Of course, I know you know that. :-)

Andy Lester of IL 11:26AM July 27, 2009