[August 05, 2014] As an Infantry company commander I once criticized a soldier for failing to provide proper maintenance on a truck. Problem was, it was not his truck to maintain. Yes, all the facts appeared to point to that soldier not doing his duty. Yes, the soldier had been in trouble for this earlier. In my haste to show that I was tough on discipline, I overlooked one important leader principle and that was, if you are going to criticize, be right. I was wrong.
One corollary to this principle is to also make the criticism constructive. Some people will say to never criticize or that the critic is only showing their own flaws. I disagree with this sentiment. How one couches the criticism is important and the result is that the criticism should be to improve performance. Making the criticism constructive takes a little thought and effort but it is certainly worth the extra attempt.
Another corollary to this principle is to “praise in public, punish in private.” In other words, if the leader is going to criticize someone, it should be done out of sight of others. There is merit to this argument and it is one of my guiding beliefs. Yet, there are times when on-the-spot corrections have to be made for them to be effective. A company commander is responsible for the maintenance of the entire unit’s equipment. I made my criticism of that soldier in front of others so that they understood the importance of maintenance.
Senior leaders especially need to be careful not to be wrong in their criticism. There is great danger in this because it can affect the entire organization. One learns very quickly as a senior leader that a knee-jerk response to person that appears to have done something wrong, can often lead to embarrassment. Get the facts. The credibility of the leader, and often the credibility of the organization, is at stake and it takes a long time to recover from this type of error.
Be sure to take the time to put the criticism in a form that can be used in a positive manner. The audience is not just the person being criticized but everyone else is watching how it is done. Others will see how the leader handles the situation and will project how they will be treated if they were to do something wrong. It matters not if they are adults or children.
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