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Simple Ways To Criticise Gracefully

By Anvi Mehta

Have you ever felt the need to correct somebody or give advice? There is an art of criticizing people and correcting them. Just being blunt and direct is not always appreciable by the person at the other end. It might just result in grudges or differences. Especially in the corporate world, there should be a proper way of criticizing.There should be humbleness and politeness when you criticize.

To criticize you should analyze the whole work carefully and then accordingly check for flaws and faults. It is very difficult to become a good critic. There are many simple ways to criticize gracefully without hurting any sentiments or emotions. Some of such simple ways to criticize gracefully are discussed below:

Simple Ways To Criticise Gracefully

Be Polite: Criticisms need not always be harsh and rude to the one receiving them. They can result in demoralizing and discouraging the opposite person and make them feel their work was not good at all. Instead, if polite and subtle words are used for criticizing, it helps the person to take the comments positively and work on their flaws to correct them. Polite words also encourage a person to perform better.

Understand the situation: Before criticizing anyone on their work you should always analyze the situation in which the work was submitted. Sometimes it may happen that the work is not complete or satisfactory. During this time use a simple way of criticizing gracefully, that is, understand the situation and explain accordingly what can be done to avoid any mistakes in future.

Assumptions: If you want to be a good and gracious critic the first thing to follow is never assume. To criticize never get into assumptions. Criticisms should never be baseless and shallow. There should be relevant reasons behind every work criticized or commented upon. Rude and baseless comments can make you a bad critic. So always study and be sure of your facts before assuming anything and criticizing good work.

Be Direct: A very simple way of criticizing some work is to be direct. The more you confuse the opposite person, the more complicated your criticism would feel. Always be direct and to the point when criticizing or commenting upon somebody's work. But also take care that you should not seem very rude or harsh when criticizing. Your criticism should always be constructive and creative but avoid being very hard to others. It might not be taken positively by all.

Say both sides: Criticism should always be accompanied with appraisal. For instance when you have to criticize on an article, you can say the negative points but also mention the positive points of the article. This is a very simple way to criticize gracefully. It will definitely boost the confidence if the one you criticize and also improve their work quality in the future. So, never just let the negatives be the center of your criticism. Make a perfect blend and balance of criticism and praise.

These were a few simple ways to be a good and gracious critic. Being a critic you should always be helpful and understanding. The job of a critic is not only to point out mistakes of anybody. A critic should be able to make the person realize his mistakes such that they do not occur again. A critic just makes the work acceptable giving it the necessary finishing. One should always do that humbly and gracefully.

Story first published: Thursday, December 5, 2013, 11:32 [IST]
Read more about: men and women