No one likes to be criticized and few people are comfortable criticizing others. Yet, like responsible parents who constructively correct their kids, leaders sometimes must address problems with employees. Similar to giving praise, there are some points to consider when giving someone corrective feedback:

• Seek to understand by letting the employee speak first so you can gain a clearer picture of the situation.
• Be specific. As with praise, corrective feedback is best when it is specific and given shortly after the problem or issue has occurred.
• Do it in private. In contrast to praise, no one deserves to be made an example of in front of others. If you do this as a leader, you can bet that the humiliated employee will be looking for a new job shortly thereafter.
• • Don’t sandwich the corrective feedback between praise to lessen your or the employee’s discomfort. This is confusing and is counterproductive.
    

Tom’s Takeaway: Although not fun, giving corrective feedback is an important part of leadership. Gather information and listen to the employee first and then state clearly and precisely what was wrong and what is expected in the future. Don’t drag it out and don’t do it in public. And try to remember that while you may hate the mistake, you don’t hate the person who made it.