How to (productively) tell a colleague that you failed

You were certainly on both sides of the tribute sandwich—it was overrated idea it give better feedback, should actively sandwich the core criticism before and after. Finding compliments is easy (even if you have to embellish the truth here and there). What about when you’re struggling with sandwich meat—Areas that need improvement?

especially when you’re dealing with someone you made mistakes in work, your feedback should be detailed enough so that the recipient has concrete ways to move forward. Use the following points to add concreteness to your feedback so your colleagues and employees can actually learn, grow, and improve.

avoid the heat

It’s natural to feel frustrated and angry when a colleague or employee makes a mistake. However, giving yourself time to carefully consider what went wrong will lead to a more productive response. Otherwise, the focus of the conversation is fueled by frustration rather than identification. Solutions for the future.

Give yourself time and space to broaden your horizons, then give your feedback with a clearer head. But don’t wait too long. No need for the added stress of procrastinating on awkward conversations.

Use details to make your feedback more effective

Effective feedback should be detailed enough to allow the recipient to move forward and improve. “Please don’t ____ anymore.‘ is hardly an action item. Below is a mental checklist you can use to add specificity to your feedback. Additionally, achieving all these points will help keep your criticisms as objective as possible, helping everyone involved. Avoid feeling awkward or embarrassed.

scale. Communicate the severity of the problem to your colleague. Please clarify if this is a minor point or a major issue. This helps determine the seriousness of the whole conversation.

frequency. Is this a one-time violation or recurring behavior? Tell your colleagues what you observed and ask them for their views on their behavior.

impact. Who does this mistake affect at work? Why? Please spell it out for your colleague.

Purpose. Get to the bottom of the person’s thinking. Perhaps what you think is wrong is their version of the new way of doing things at work.production process and about what they thought they were trying to achieve.

With all these details stick to the facts Rather than your emotional point of view guide your talking point.

offer to help—and solutions

As In the compliment sandwich, one of the most important components of effective feedback is expressing it in a few words. kind of positive. Positivity is most likely in the form of positive solutions.

Again, specificity is your friend. A “solution” like manage time well Ambiguous and difficult to follow through. More helpful would be to offer ideas such as: Have you considered downloading a project management app? Also Need help figuring out how to delegate some of your tasks? Even if these aren’t solutions, these kinds of questions start conversations when you work together to find them. An idea that works.make available follow-up questions, or proactively check in with colleagues future.

End the feedback session with specific ideas for improvement instead of a long talk about what went wrong. The flattery sandwich may be overrated, but a little positivity is key to making feedback stick.