There is never enough reminders of the basic principles of giving feedback. Look around yourself and honestly answer the question whether your feedback do not rather demotivate the people around you even if you want to praise. Most managers are not sufficiently specific and when giving praise, they repeat only general phrases like "Good job." What should they focus on?
Give your people the feel that they are excellent
Thank for their efforts and achievements and show that you can see how much energy they devote to their work. At the same time, encourage them to further develop their skills, keep on trying not giving up. All this should be based on the above mentioned specific examples. Describe what specific people did and what results it brought. Then explain how these specific results have contributed to the overall operation of your organization.
If you want a change, say what change
The importance of specific examples apply also to situations when you want somebody among your people to change his/her previous behaviour. Again, prepare specific examples of the behaviour, their impact on others and the operation of the company. Always let some space for the people concerned to express their point to your observations. Reasons for their behaviour may be different than you think.
Don't compare others to yourself
Don't evaluate your people's performance according to how you think you would have mastered a task yourself. Ask whether it reflected the purpose for which it was meant. Your people needn't hear that you would follow a different way. Demand changes only if you can really explain why these changes should occur. End your constructive criticism with an encouragement to further work.
-kk-