Are critical feedback conversations uncomfortable?

Are critical feedback conversations with your team uncomfortable? That’s probably because you haven’t appreciated them enough

An appreciation culture will earn you the right to give critical feedback as often as you want to because when delivered in tandem, it simply becomes ‘feedback’.

How do you foster an appreciation culture?

1) Appreciate small things, doesn’t cost much A good support reply, great blog title, brilliant choice of colors, useful comments in the code - these are small things that often go unappreciated.

2) Appreciate asynchronously Don’t wait till 1on1s to appreciate. Leave google doc comments, send short emails/texts, leave positive voice notes or maybe even social media replies.

3) DON’T appreciate mediocrity Appreciating culture doesn’t mean you appreciate for the sake of appreciation. It’s simply to foster a culture of appreciating things that are worthy but often ignored.

The moment you repeatedly appreciate a person for their positive behavior, critical feedback won’t seem out of place.

If you only single out their flaws everytime (even with good intentions), they tend to fixate on that. They think “Why does every conversation seem to be about what I can improve? Am I not doing anything right?”