Many management articles will tell you the best way to give “constructive criticism” is to use the compliment sandwich. I disagree.
Urban Dictionary defines this best,
Compliment Sandwich: When someone tries to ease the blow of a criticism by delivering it between two insincere compliments.
I’ve been served both this and the half-compliment sandwich – aka the open-faced sh!t sandwich (your boss opens with a compliment and then drops the hammer).
Here’s the deal – it doesn’t make the bad news any easier to swallow. In fact, it makes it worse:
- The compliment seems insincere – even if it is legit.
- You teach your employee to cringe every time you give a compliment because they are just waiting for the criticism part.
- You seem spineless. If you had any courage, you would simply deliver the difficult message without trying to mask it.
A Better Way
Tell the truth. I wrote a post about how I learned to do this here.
Praise your employees sincerely and often – in real time. Catch them in the act of doing something good.
But when it is time to deliver some bad news, do it directly and honestly – ideally in private.
Your employees will appreciate always knowing where they stand.