Question

When giving feedback, why is it technically superior to describe the impact of a behavior rather than labeling the person who performed the action?

Accepted Answer

When you label a person, you are making a claim about who they are as a human being. If you say, &#x27;You are lazy,&#x27; the person feels attacked and gets defensive, meaning they stop listening so they can protect their feelings. Because they feel judged, they focus on fighting you instead of fixing the problem. When you describe the impact of a behavior instead, you are talking about what happened and how it affected things. For example, instead of calling someone lazy, you say, &#x27;When the report was turned in late, the team missed the deadline and lost the client.&#x27; This focuses on the facts of the action rather than the character of the person. Since you aren&#x27;t attacking their identity, they can keep their guard down and actually hear what you are saying. This makes them much more likely to change the behavior because they can see the negative result for themselves without feeling like they are being labeled as a bad person.

When giving feedback, why is it technically superior to describe the impact of a behavior rather than labeling the person who performed the action?

When you label a person, you are making a claim about who they are as a human being. If you say, 'You are lazy,' the person feels attacked and gets defensive, meaning they stop listening so they can protect their feelings. Because they feel judged, they focus on fighting you ins....

Community Answers

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When giving feedback, why is it technically superior to describe the impact of a behavior rather than labeling the person who performed the action?

When you label a person, you are making a claim about who they are as a human being. If you say, 'You are lazy,' the person feels attacked and gets defensive, meaning they stop listening so they can protect their feelings. Because they feel judged, they focus on fighting you ins....

Community Answers