If you want to get better at giving feedback, do this.
Imagine the person is going through a lot.
Because they actually might be.
It’s something I should do more often, but it’s easy to lose sight of this.
We rarely know what someone else is dealing with.
And even if they seem like they’re doing fine, we shouldn’t assume that they are.
This makes a big difference when it comes to giving feedback.
Because even when it’s constructive, feedback can be hard to hear.
But if we imagined someone was going through a lot, we’d soften our delivery.
We’d frame the feedback more thoughtfully and make sure it felt like support instead of criticism.
Feedback isn’t identifying problems.
It’s about helping others to improve.
And it lands best when you see the other person as human first.