Have you ever received feedback from a colleague, manager, or client that felt more like a personal attack than a helpful suggestion? If so, then you might have received destructive rather than constructive feedback. Understanding the difference between these two types of feedback is crucial for your professional growth. It helps you discern which comments to apply to enhance your leadership skills and which to recognize as attempts to undermine your confidence.
For clarity, constructive feedback is a response to an individual's behavior that recognizes strengths, suggests growth opportunities, and aims to develop specific skills. It provides actionable insights for performance improvement. In contrast, destructive feedback often involves unsolicited criticism, sweeping generalizations, and personal insults. It's typically used to embarrass or undermine confidence, offering no actionable suggestions for improvement.
Recent studies reveal that when leaders fail to distinguish between constructive and destructive feedback, Black and Latinx professionals in the workplace bear the brunt of this oversight. This Textio survey about language bias in feedback found that Black and Latinx employees in the workplace were 2.4x more likely to receive feedback that wasn’t actionable than their Asian and White colleagues. This survey also showed that Black men received less than one-third of the feedback given to White women on average. These findings highlight the inequity in job performance feedback, which hinders leaders of color from developing the necessary skills to advance in their careers.
“It’s important to offer your team feedback, but there needs to be a consideration of delivering that feedback. The goal should be to inform and provide guidance but not in a detrimental way,” says leadership consultant and attorney Sid Peddinti.
“Strong and cohesive teams are built when the leader guides from a place of understanding—that’s the place from which feedback should originate. The goal should be to build up, says Peddinti.”
The 2018 Gallup Workplace Experiences Panel Survey discovered that employees who received negative feedback that lacked helpful insights and ways to improve were 89.1% more likely to be disengaged in the workplace and seek other employment. This survey's outcome provides further evidence that the frequency, style, and intention behind how feedback is provided matter.
These survey findings illustrate the importance of understanding the critical differences between constructive and destructive feedback for Black leaders and other professionals of diverse ethnic backgrounds.
How to Properly Provide Feedback
In the following sections, we'll explore three hallmarks of both. By mastering this discernment, you can avoid internalizing unhelpful criticism that could derail your career momentum and affect your self-esteem. Instead, you'll develop the emotional intelligence to recognize and extract valuable insights from constructive feedback, enhancing your performance and leadership skills. Understanding these hallmarks will equip you to navigate workplace critiques more effectively, supporting your professional growth and confidence.
Constructive Feedback
Relevant and Timely:
Feedback is most effective when delivered promptly after the behavior or outcome. Timely critiques are more likely to be relevant and motivate change. Delays in providing meaningful feedback can decrease its impact and applicability.
Specific and Actionable Insight:
Specific feedback provides precise, detailed observations that allow you to understand the other person’s perspective. It offers concrete suggestions that you can apply to improve your future actions and outcomes directly.
Balanced:
Constructive feedback doesn’t solely focus on your weaknesses or areas for improvement. It also recognizes your strengths and well-developed skills. When feedback lacks this balance, you miss a comprehensive view of your overall performance and progress.
Destructive Feedback
Vague and General:
These types of criticisms hinder improvement because they fail to identify specific issues. Without having a clear indication of which behaviors or outcomes need changing, you're left guessing at how to enhance your performance. This lack of clarity about what success looks like or how to achieve it often leads to frustration and anxiety.
Public Humiliation:
Feedback delivered in public settings, including in front of colleagues or on internet forums, often aims to embarrass rather than help. This form of public criticism isn't constructive or considerate of your feelings. It disregards your right to receive feedback privately and with dignity, making it a form of humiliation rather than helpful guidance.
Personal Attacks:
This criticism targets your personality or character instead of specific behaviors and outcomes. It's far easier to modify actions than to change who you are at your core. This type of feedback often stems from the critic's opinions and preferences about you rather than offering actionable insights for improvement. These attacks provide little value in terms of professional growth and instead serve to undermine your self-esteem.
The Proper Feedback Creates Well-Being in the Workplace
Now that you understand the critical differentiators between constructive and destructive feedback, here’s what you’ll need to do next. When you receive feedback, apply your knowledge of these hallmarks to determine if it's truly helpful and actionable or condescending and disempowering. This discernment will allow you to embrace constructive guidance while filtering out others' projected insecurities.
Ultimately, this skill will boost your self-esteem and overall well-being, which will support your professional growth.