Address the method, not the madness
The authors of HBR’s Giving Effective Feedback rank the following things from easiest to influence, to hardest to influence:
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- job skills (easiest)
- time and work management
- knowledge
- attitudes
- habits
- personality traits (hardest)
As you work down the list the closer you get to the other’s sense of self, and self-esteem. That’s where resistance will be fiercest, and it should be off-limits anyway.
It makes me think of the awful, fruitless, entrenched standoffs that have always occurred between parents and children, sparked by angry statements like “The problem with you is …”
Stick instead to areas that least threaten their sense of self-worth. That means tactics, knowledge, tricks, tips, work routines – their methods, in other words, not their ‘madness’.
This equips them to do a better job without attacking who they are.
Feedback is integral to deep and deliberate delegation.