How to Give a Compliment Sandwich

Managers in the workplace can use the compliment sandwich as a management technique.

If you have ever been criticized, rightly or wrongly, you might see your critic as having asked the unreasonable, or even the impossible. Business managers, whose task is often to improve and (out of necessity) criticize employee performance, recognize this perception. A management technique known as the "compliment sandwich" is a method of delivering criticism while at the same time attempting to avoid presenting an impression of unreasonableness on the part of the criticizer. If you ever find it necessary to offer criticism to a subordinate, an equal or a friend, you might try using a compliment sandwich.

Instructions

1. Determine one way in which your acquaintance or employee could improve his performance. For example, your employee submits weekly reports with many misspelled words. You would like your employee to improve the spelling in his reports.

2. Determine something positive your acquaintance or employee does. Ideally, this should be related to the performance characteristic you want to improve. For example, this employee's weekly reports always provide a concise and accurate summary of the company's ongoing development programs.

3. Think of a second positive characteristic of your acquaintance or employee's performance. This too should be, if possible, related to the performance characteristic you want to improve. For example, this employee's weekly reports are always submitted two hours before they are due.

4. Approach your acquaintance or employee and begin your compliment sandwich by stating the first positive characteristic of his work. For example, you approach your employee Dirk and say, "Great work as usual on the progress summary, Dirk. I can always depend on you for a no-nonsense and accurate summary of where our company is in development."

5. Tell your acquaintance or employee next where you would like to see improvement. This is the middle of the compliment sandwich. For example, say, "But you know, Dirk, it's sometimes tough to get past the frequent misspellings in your reports. They don't make you or our company look professional. You might want to be more consistent in using a spell-checker and dictionary before submitting your reports."

6. Complete your compliment sandwich with the second positive characteristic of your acquaintance or employee's performance. For example, say, "And before I forget, thank you, Dirk, for always getting your reports to my desk early. Promptitude like yours keeps this office operating at its best."

References

• William Patterson University of New Jersey, Human Resources Review: Stop the Compliment Sandwich
• Universiteit Leiden: The International Classroom