5 Examples that Show How Positive (Constructive) Criticism Helps You Build a Healthier Workplace Environment

Regular performance reviews are essential if you want your employees to continue to grow and improve within your company.

Sixty-eight percent of employees say that, when they receive consistent and accurate feedback, it helps them to feel more fulfilled with their jobs.

The key to increasing employee fulfillment and reaping the benefits of performance reviews and regular feedback, though, is to make sure you’re providing useful information and constructive criticism.

Read on to see some examples of how constructive criticism in the workplace can lead to a healthier and more productive overall environment.

Why Criticism Matters

Some managers and business owners are under the impression that criticism is always a bad thing.

The truth, though, is that criticism is needed if you want your business or department to continue improving. If someone is doing something wrong or acting against the company’s best interests, they need to be corrected.

If you’re in a position of leadership, you’re going to find yourself in situations where you need to deliver criticism. It’s up to you if you want those experiences to be positive or negative, though.

By delivering constructive criticism, you can make performance reviews and meetings with employees more positive and create a healthier, happier, and more productive workplace.

Examples of Positive Constructive Criticism in the Workplace

Clearly, criticism can play a significant role in your company’s overall productivity. The key is to make it positive and constructive. If you’re not sure why constructive criticism is so important, or if you’re not sure how to deliver it, listed below are some helpful examples:

1. Show New Perspectives

Delivering constructive criticism to your employees helps to open them up to new perspectives.

Often, when people are doing something incorrectly, they don’t realize it. If you talk to the employee about how the way they behave or the way they’re doing their work affects other employees, your customers, or the company as a whole, this will help them to see things in a different way.

When your employees are able to look at things from different perspectives, they may become more empathetic and courteous. This, in turn, makes your office a better place for everyone, including the employee you originally had to address.

2. Build Trust

Everyone wins when your workplace is a place where people can receive and share constructive criticism.

If you are able to talk openly to your employees about what they need to improve (while also providing praise when they do things well), they’ll trust you more and be more willing to come to you when they have questions or concerns.

Providing regular constructive criticism helps to make your office a more collaborative place. It also decreases the likelihood that people will try to hide mistakes for fear of being reprimanded or treated negatively.

3. Encourage Positive Behaviors

One of the keys to providing constructive criticism is making sure that you’re not only commenting on what a person is doing incorrectly or needs to improve. You’re also taking time to point out what they’re doing well.

When you encourage positive behaviors, you show your employees that you do appreciate them and aren’t trying to be nit-picky or overly critical.

When you approach criticism and feedback in this way, it also helps you to keep employees who may be struggling or feeling insecure motivated and engaged. It reminds them that they’re part of the team and that you want to help them improve and grow within the company.

4. Seek Solutions

Constructive criticism isn’t just about telling your employees what they should or shouldn’t be doing. It’s also a time for you, as a manager or employer, to seek feedback and figure out solutions to problems.

When you’re delivering constructive criticism, make sure you’re asking the employee or group of employees what you can do to help them. By doing this, you reinforce the notion that you all are a team working together toward a common goal.

This encourages collaboration and gives you insight into what you can do better. It also helps to encourage more openness and honest communication in the workplace, both of which are good for creating a healthy and productive environment.

5. Create Bonds

When you deliver constructive criticism and show your workers that you care about them and how they’re doing at work, you create a stronger bond between yourself and them.

You show them that you want them to do well and want them to stick around. After all, if you didn’t care about their performance, you wouldn’t bother with constructive criticism and would just let them continue making mistakes, right?

Strong workplace relationships help to foster better overall happiness and satisfaction at work. They also increase the likelihood that employees will stick around long-term, which helps to bolster productivity and boost your bottom line.

Start Practicing Constructive Criticism in the Workplace Today

Now that you know more about the importance of constructive criticism and have seen some constructive criticism examples, it’s time to start implementing it into the way you run your business and manage your employees.

Keep this information in mind and it’ll be much easier for you to provide your employees with the constructive criticism they need to grow and improve.

If you need more help providing praise and feedback, don’t forget to check out KudosBot, too. This tool make it easy for you to recognize good work and praise people who are going above and beyond.