Judgemental words such as ‘terrible’ and ‘woeful’ provide no insight into how a problematic issue can be resolved.
Judgemental words such as ‘not bad’ and ‘passable’ provide zero clue as to what the recipient of such “feedback” can do to improve what they do.
If the purpose of the feedback is to resolve an issue or to improve an employee’s performance, then descriptive language will help to fulfil that purpose.
Examples of descriptive language include:
- ‘Let’s try the “Six Thinking Hats” approach. Wearing the “Black Hat” first: what are the constraints associated with this situation?’ *
- ‘I liked how you spoke to the customer in a calm manner. What else do you think you could have done to remove the anger from the customer’s attitude?’
*Note:
Source: ‘Six Thinking Hats’ by Edward de Bono
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