Yesterdays post was about my thoughts on critisicm.  A number of readers let me know what they thought about my comments and this led to some robust discussions.

Not surprising, the result is a follow on post by me with some additional opinions (yes they are my subjective opinions on the topic).  The focus today is on constructive criticism and praise.

Praise then Criticize, Is it really Constructive

My personal experience has been praise is a much more powerful tool for influencing behaviour change.  This is the underlying principle behind the well known phrase ” use the carrot instead of the stick”

Whether a human or a donkey we respond better to the reward then to the punishment.  Praise is like a reward (it makes you feel good)  and criticism a punishment ( it hurts).

Constructive critisicm is nothing more than a reward (praise) to fool you into being receptive, thinking something good is coming and then whack, negative feedback.

Does anyone really believe that people fall for this approach.  It is so obvious and in reality the praise is fully diluted by the put down which follows, and so ultimately has no effect.

Positive Criticism

Of course if constructive criticism does not work for you there is always my favorite oxymoron to fall back on, i.e., positive criticism. Criticism is by definition about something wrong.

When telling someone their mistakes the topic is negative in nature.  It just is.  So in essence positive criticism is basically combining “positive/negative “comments. Oh joy, I bet that works.

If you want to influence behaviour my suggestion is to try positive reinforcement and just positive reinforcement. It works.