Why We Give Criticism

In the context of poor communication, criticizing is when you knock someone down for the wrong reasons: to hurt someone, to vent your frustrations or to boost your ego.

It’s easy enough for someone to get defensive when they’re given constructive criticism. But when your criticism co...

• The criticism is mean-spirited. If you use insulting or degrading language or put down the person in any way, they will focus on that, and not on the rest of the criticism.
• If you focus on the person instead of their actions, you will make them angry or defensive or hur...

We tend to judge ourselves first, then base our judgments of others on our own self-judgments. That makes it highly likely that whatever bothers you about your coworker you will find in yourself.

If you find someone intolerable, pinpoint the specific traits that bo...