• Giving negative feedback may seem intimidating, but it is crucial to helping employees improve and progress in the workplace.
• Appraisers should avoid vague critiques. Instead, they should give specific examples and offer concrete ways the employee can bolster their skills or remedy shortcomings.

Delivering negative feedback can often be challenging or intimidating, but it is one of the most important parts of an effective performance appraisal. If an individual employee is not keenly aware of the areas, skills, or behaviors they need to improve on, they will have a difficult time progressing or meeting future goals and expectations.

As with most feedback, it is important that negative feedback be given in a constructive way. Appraisers should steer away from giving vague feedback that could lead to more questions than answers. Instead, they should consider giving the employee concrete ways to improve in the areas in which they are falling short. For example, providing a list of helpful business writing workshops may be an effective solution for an employee struggling with written communication. By providing tangible improvement suggestions, employees are more likely to feel motivated and optimistic about their future success.