Feedback Strategies

 I read an article this week called "How to give bad feedback without being a jerk" by Adam Grant. He opens by discussing the sandwich method of feedback, this method involves opening and closing with a positive comment and giving the bulk of bad feedback in the middle. Grant found that there were a lot of problems with this method, firstly you can come off ingenuine with your positive comments if they're followed by negatives, another problem was that people tend to only remember or fully take in the beginning and ending of a conversation so this meant that the feedback wasn't being received to its full extent. Grant followed this with four steps to successfully give constructive criticism. If you explain why you're giving the feedback and tell them you have high expectations that you believe they can reach, they now feel like you are supporting them rather than attacking their faults. Another step is to take yourself off a pedestal, if you express that you ae still working on some things and tell them what benefitted you in the past it will level the playing field and they will feel less threatened. A simple step that Adam talks about is just asking the person if they would like feedback, they're unlikely to say no and will now feel like its their choice and will be less threatened. Lastly if you are transparent about your goals and what you want to gain as well as what you want them to gain from the feedback, it is likely to be received well.  

Another article I read was "Preschoolers and Praise: What kinds of messages help kids grow?" by Deborah Farmer Kris, some of the content in this links into a few other articles I've read over the last few weeks. The main topic was how parents can influence their children's mindset depending on the way thy talk to them in their developmental years. If you replace basic praise like "Wow, well done!!" or "Great job" with praises about specific actions of your child or praise of the effort they have put into something it will push them towards a growth mindset, this is because they'll begin to value effort and hard work because that's what they've been praised for. You are trying to let the kid know what they done for their success rather than just saying well done. The word "yet" is very important in developing a growth mindset, it lets your child know that even if they feel like they can't do something, they can improve and work towards being able to in the future.