Turn criticism into constructive feedback

Show with your entire body language that you welcome feedback

Since giving feedback is challenging for most people, it’s very important that you actively encourage the person who is giving you feedback. You can encourage someone by just thinking about your body language, facial expression and tone of voice. If someone asks if they can give you feedback and you take a step back, frown and say “yes” in a questioning, dragging tone of voice, whether you mean to or not, you are sending a very defensive signal which does not welcome feedback. Instead, if someone asks you if they can give you feedback, smile, lean towards the person as if you are really eager to hear what they have to say and say “yes” in a positive and energetic tone of voice. This might sound very simple and silly, but I can tell you, it really makes the entire process of giving and receiving feedback so much more pleasant.

Feedback shouldn’t be confused with praise or criticism

The sole purpose of feedback is to impact future behavior; whether it is a good behavior that should be continued, or a negative behavior that needs adjusting. If given correctly, feedback is factual and non-judgmental. Unfortunately, proper feedback isn’t very common in workplaces. What you do hear more of is praise or criticism.

Praise
Giving praise is indeed very positive. Both the giver and the receiver feel good and it increases the energy and improves the atmosphere among people around who hear it.
Examples of praise:

• Good job leading that meeting!
• Great report, I really enjoyed reading it!
• Well done, that was a very good presentation!

The problem with praise is that it isn’t very constructive. You don’t really know what you did well and what you should continue doing.


Criticism
Unlike praise, there is no positive outcome of criticism. No one likes to receive criticism. Criticism is judgmental and it really drains the energy out of the receiver and anyone else who hears the criticism.
Examples of criticism:

• That was lousy – you can’t lead a meeting!
• What an awful report, it was a torture getting through!
• That was a really boring presentation!

When you hear criticism like this, there is no way for you to know what you can do to improve. It is also quite natural to feel upset and become defensive.

Always be thankful for input – in whichever form you get it

No matter if someone is giving you feedback, praise or criticism you should express your gratitude by saying “Thank you”. Remember that feedback is something given to you in order for you to develop, someone else is showing that they care about you. If you are given praise, saying thank you comes quite natural. Even if you would like to dig a bit deeper, don’t use the praise as a means to seek feedback. The person might not be ready to give you constructive feedback and in that case he or she might just feel awkward that they gave you the praise in the first place. If you continue to ask for feedback when given praise, people might refrain from giving you praise in the future, which is not the result you are looking for!

Even when you are given criticism you should be grateful and smile and say thank you – even though what you really want is to punch the person in the face! Unlike with praise, if someone gives you criticism you should turn it into an opportunity to seek feedback.

Turn criticism into constructive feedback

The key to any type of feedback is to understand the underlying behavior. If someone gives you criticism, after you have thanked the person (genuinely, without being sarcastic) you should ask the person to clarify the behavior.
Examples:

• Can you help me understand what I could have done differently?
• What specifically was it that you didn’t like in the report?
• What can I do next time to improve my presentation?

Hopefully the person who gave you the criticism will answer your question by developing a more constructive feedback. If he or she does, you can help by restating the feedback.
Example:

• Ok, so please let me know if I understand this correctly: When I don’t stick to an agenda everyone gets frustrated and we won’t achieve the objective of our meeting. So next time I’ll make sure to prepare and agenda and stick to it!

This way you are actually following the feedback model that we discussed in the previous article and you have successfully turned toxic criticism into something beneficial!

Remember that positive feedback is often better than praise

I’m very good at giving praise – to family members, co-workers and employees. I often say; Good job today! Excellent teamwork! Thank you for a good meeting! And so on. Something I need to remember is that even though praise is good, it doesn’t help the receiver to improve, so instead of giving praise I should be giving feedback. I think we can all benefit from replacing some of the praise we give with feedback. This way it also makes it a lot easier to give correcting feedback, since the people around us will have a positive experience to feedback overall.

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Preparing a successful presentation

Being able to give good presentations is a key element in a business professional’s career.
There is no such thing as a naturally good presenter, some people might be more natural
speaking in front of other people, but presenting well takes time and effort. No one can
deliver a successful presentation ill prepared.

1. Start early with collecting information
The first rule is to start preparing for the presentation early. Don’t wait until the night before the presentation and then put together some PowerPoint slides in the last minute. You’re wasting your time creating slides if you don’t have relevant data. As soon as you find out that you are going to give a presentation start collecting data. The first thing you need to know is who your audience is.

Gather information about the audience
• Why are they there?
• What are they expecting?
• What are their expectations?
• How much do they know about the topic you will be presenting?
• How big will the audience likely be?





If you are speaking at an event, ask the event organizers about previous events, typical profile of the audience etc. Secondly, start collecting data about your topic. Gather information about your topic Again, as soon as you know that you are presenting start collecting data about your topic. Save articles from magazines, use a screen clipping tool and copy online articles, ask people for feedback, do surveys, analyze statistical data in Excel, review previous talks or presentations that you or others have done on the same topic. You can collect this data in a number of ways.




Personally I like using Microsoft OneNote which is like a digital notebook to save unorganized pieces of information. You can print out documents and save them in a binder or folder if you prefer that. Take notes and scribble down your thoughts as you go through the material. Don’t be selective, think of this as a brainstorming session - no thoughts or ideas should be discarded at this stage.

2. Structure and refine your information
When you’re done collecting data, it’s time to start organizing it. If you’ve printed it out you can use a big table or just put papers on the floor. If you’ve collected it in your computer, organize it in different sections of your notebook. Now you can start discarding information that you don’t have time for or that isn’t directly relevant.

3. Prepare your key message and your outline
When you have refined the data it’s time for the outline - you can do this by putting sticky notes on the wall, index cards on a table or if you prefer writing titles on PowerPoint slides. This is when you get your “big picture” together. What is your key message? What is the number one thing you want the audience to walk away with? Rearrange the notes/cards/slides in an order that makes for the best flow of the presentation, keeping your key message in mind.



4. Create the presentation slides
When you are done with the outline you can start putting the slides together. Here are a few
guidelines to follow:
• Don’t put too much text on each slide. When I did my presentation skills class I learn that 8 rows of text on a row was maximum, personally I think that is too much, I would limit it to 5.
• Try to use images and video to engage the audience
• Make sure to check your spelling – there’s nothing worse than a presentation with spelling mistakes.
• Use colors with high contrast in your slides, i.e. dark background color with light text, or a light background color with dark text. Avoid red and green since these colors can be hard to read – especially for people who are color blind.



5. Pick out your attire
Pick out your attire a few days before the presentation so that if there is a stain on your clothing you have time to dry clean it. Pick clothes that are comfortable (that you can easily walk around in) but that are still professionally elegant. You want to stand out in a stylish manner. If you are a lady wearing  high heels or a tight skirt - make sure that you can walk properly (some stages have high steps you need to climb) or choose something else to wear. Keep your clothing simple and minimize jewelry.

If you’ve bought new clothes for the occasion, try them on at home before the presentation to make sure you feel comfortable in them. There’s a great Career Tools podcast called “Presentation Attire” that goes in to this topic in more detail that I warmly recommend.

6. Practice
The final step is to practice, practice, practice. By practicing I don’t mean sit in the sofa and read through the slides in your head. No, I mean stand up and deliver the presentation like you would on the actual day. Ideally invite someone to listen to you, or record the presentation with a video camera. If you’re all alone and you don’t have a camera - stand in front of the mirror and speak out loud. Things sound very differently when you say them out loud. When I first joined Microsoft my manager called me in for a “dry run” before my first presentation. I had no idea what it was. She asked me to present to her like I would in front of the customer – exactly, word by word. I thought it was a nightmare, but of course it was extremely useful. So, always do a dry run before a live audience. For best result,
rehearse the entire presentation in the attire you’ve selected, in the room or auditorium the
presentation is going to be at. If you nail it then - you are ready!

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