Criticizing Criticism: The case against negative feedback

How do you feel when you get criticized?  Many people's first reaction is often defensiveness, demotivation, antipathy and even retribution.

I’ve had a number of clients say that on giving a supervisee a deservedly poor performance review, in addition to no improvement, the honest feedback was met with a formal complaint to HR.

Yet criticism, especially constructive criticism, is widely viewed as key to individual, organization, and societal progress.

My Psychology Today article today makes the case that while criticism is invaluable to self-teaching computers, people aren’t computers. They have feelings, which usually tip the scales toward minimizing criticism and maximizing earned praise.