How To: Give Constructive Criticism

I recently had lunch with one of the world’s most well-known critics, so I took the opportunity to ask her what she thought of the three judges on American Idol. “Truly, constructive criticism conveys that indispensable degree of honesty through a combination of credibility and skilled diplomacy,” she said. “For example, Simon Cowell is too cold, while Paula Abdul is often way too warm. But Randy Jackson strikes the proper balance between the two.” I pressed Goldilocks to elaborate, and she said, “He’s just right.”

Someone submitting themselves to you for approval makes giving constructive criticism fraught with pitfalls. Here are some tips to find that critical golden mean so that your comments neither sound inutile nor cause too much offense, while still getting the person to respond and improve accordingly.

Omit character traits

If you want your criticism to get the best out of someone, suppress the urge to attach one of his personality deficits to your critique. If you do start to bring up personality deficits, it’s likely he will interpret your comment as an ad hominem attack, causing your point to fall on deaf, insulted ears. It isn’t possible to entirely separate a person from their work, but your criticism should make that effort.

Frame your criticism in appropriate language

The very words you speak can make all the difference. Using terminology germane to the issue keeps constructive criticism on a professional level, beyond reproach. Furthermore, you can thaw out even the most severe criticism by tenderizing your language. Opening with “It seems to me…,” or “I could be wrong, but…” makes it less likely that your point is compromised by arrogance or rudeness.

Get your facts straight

The efficacy of constructive criticism is in direct proportion to the credibility of its source. Conversely, few things can torpedo your authority more quickly than unknowingly basing your comments on factual errors. Facts in the form of criticisms that are impossible to dispute act as an arsenal of stealth weaponry. They can deliver your harsher critiques with surgical precision while never letting the person know that you’re launching them.

Show a little empathy when giving constructive criticism…

Keep emotions in mind and in check

Offering effective constructive criticism requires you to neutralize any unreliable elements of emotion in order to blunt their influence. To a certain degree, you must take his feelings into account; it may not be possible to spare him some measure of embarrassment, but overt humiliation is mean-spirited and counterproductive. On the same token, your own feelings need to be kept in check; they are susceptible to bias and can be used to discredit you.

Focus on what can be done, not what’s been done

Refer to specific opportunities for improvement and avoid singling out inadequacies. Keeping your criticisms positive is both tactful and essential. It’s less disparaging for the person to hear that he has overlooked an opportunity than it is to be told that his current ideas are incompetent or defective.

Empathize

One of the more potent steps you can take before delivering constructive criticism is also among the simpler and more compassionate ones: Stop for a moment and remind yourself what it’s like to be in those shoes. You feel vulnerable, under direct attack and it’s human nature to become defensive in the extreme.

Utilize reason, not personal preference

Criticism of any kind bears an innate bias, but you can overcome that by remembering that comments grounded on reason are less open to counter-arguments, both valid and otherwise. It’s difficult for anyone to defend nonsense against the stability of logic, but it’s easy to dismiss criticisms dangled on the capriciousness of ”like” and “dislike.”  Your credentials fade the very moment your comments begin to drift from authoritative conclusions into whimsical preferences.

Allow time for a response

It’s to your psychological advantage to pause between criticisms and allow the person a chance to explain himself. The act of offering an explanation, however weak it may be, is intellectually satisfying: It helps keep his ego somewhat intact while preventing him from becoming overwhelmed. Furthermore, you’ll come across as both fair and open-minded, increasing your credibility while decreasing the chance that any of your constructive criticism gets overlooked or forgotten.

tell it like it is

Giving good constructive criticism will probably not win you too many immediate friends, but neither should it create a host of enemies.  When delivered with a consistently proper balance of tact and authority, it will earn you something better: an enduring respect and a greater degree of productivity from the people around you.

Why We Hunt Bears

Ken H. Taylor is a renowned northern Canadian woodsman and guide. His lifetime of experience, knowledge of the outdoors and attention to detail is equaled only by the passion and respect he has for the natural world. Over the next four weeks, Ken will take AM readers through the basics of hunting the North American black bear. Today we publish the first article in Ken’s series, which focuses on why hunting bears is a necessary and positive tradition.

Among the bear species found in North America, by far the most numerous and widespread is the black bear. In this modern era, black bears have been perceived and treated in many different ways, from vermin that were indiscriminately killed (in some cases with a bounty on their heads) to animals that continue to be mismanaged because of our modern society’s tendencies to mix human emotions with the science of wildlife management.

I like black bears. I respect black bears. I believe in black bear conservation. And yes, I am a hunter — one of the original conservationists.

I have lived in bear country all of my 55 years and first began hunting them on my own at the age of 12. I smile now when I look back at this time, when youthful enthusiasm and a yearning for adventure overshadowed my lack of experience and necessary tools. Thankfully, the opportunity to harvest one didn’t present itself until the ripe old age of 15, a day when I was proudly carrying an old .303 British rifle, passed on from my dad, who was with me that evening.

INSERT PARAGRAPH addressing debate surrounding bear hunting, and positioning this article as a contributing voice to it; declare the goal of the article to present reasons why hunting is necessary

Hunting for sustenance

In the Cree community where I live, bear is among the most highly regarded types of meat. Every edible portion of it is consumed and enjoyed, including the head, the feet and all of the fat. The meat from black bears is excellent; if anyone tells you otherwise it may be because it was poorly handled or simply because they have a disdain for bear meat. In rare cases, a bear that has been feeding heavily on fish for an extended period of time or one that is injured or sick would best not be harvested for table fare (but then common sense should prevail).

Our use of the harvested bear does not end at the meal table. The elders will make traditional medicine with the fat as well as using it for other practical purposes. Native tribes often followed the custom of keeping parts of the animal, such as the skull, teeth, claws, or portions of the hide, that they would preserve and fashion into various items as a sign of respect to the animal and a reminder of the hunt. Many modern-day hunters continue that tradition today through taxidermy, whereby their bear hides are transformed into a bearskin rug or into a replica of the animal they harvested — some so lifelike that they are works of art.

Ken explains how bear hunting is crucial to population control…

Hunting as population management

Human encroachment into bear territory causes problems both for people and for bears. In cold climates, since black bears hibernate several months of the year and need to build up fat reserves in order to survive long winters, they become eating machines during their more active periods. An overpopulation of these bears in a limited area can cause food shortages, which in turn will result in many hungry  bears searching elsewhere for their vitally required calories. And this can lead to confrontations with humans.

When such confrontations occur, bears are sometimes relocated at the taxpayer’s expense, which is a temporary solution since they often return and eventually are simply killed. These situations may be amplified when there is a poor crop of wild berries in late summer or early fall. This happened last year in northwestern Quebec, and bears began showing up everywhere near human habitations. Many went to waste when they were then killed by conservation officers or nervous homeowners.

The fact of the matter is that a land area that is managed by hunting to hold slightly less bears than its maximum carrying capacity allows for healthier and more reclusive bears.

Hunting to maintain natural balance

Hunters often want to harvest larger bears, and the biggest bears are always boars. Since mature boars will kill and eat bear cubs, hunters are protecting cubs and contributing to the rejuvenation of the bear population by seeking them out selectively. Bears also inflict a heavy toll on young moose, caribou, elk, and deer populations. Someone might argue that this is simply the “balance of nature,” but the hunting of bears is in keeping with this; the only natural predator bears have (besides other bears) is man.

Bears that are not hunted may lose their fear of man and confront them, and an unarmed person is no match for a mature black bear. There was a fatal bear attack on a woman fishing in Quebec last spring. The odds of it happening are slim, and the rare instances when it does happen do not make bears any more dangerous than they ever were, but it is something to consider nonetheless.

There are many more reasons to hunt bears than can be discussed here now. My own urge to hunt comes from deep within me, as does the respect I have for all of God’s creatures and the land we inhabit. Hunting bears awakens instincts and feelings in me that bring me closer to my ancestors.

Next Sunday, AM will publish the second segment in Ken’s series: Finding A Bear.