Downside of “the praise sandwich”

Esther Derby wrote a concise piece on her blog recently about “the praise sandwich”. It was a bit of an eye-opener in that I too have been guilty in the past of something similar, what could be called “the tickle and slap”. Open with some praise, but then there’s the “but”. “Susan, you did a wonderful job chairing that meeting yesterday, a fine job, thank you. However, I’d like to discuss how you dealt with the group disagreements.” 

I like Esther’s approach to constructive and critical feedback – open, describe the behaviour, describe the impact, and make a request. Four steps that are pretty self-explanatory, and easy to remember. This framework can help any of us to deliver feedback to our team members in a way that should be honest, fair and concise. And like she says, don’t oversell it – once the request has been made, it’s probably wise to ensure that the recipient understands the request, but other than that, move on and don’t belabour your point.