6 tips for delivering feedback in the most constructive way

6 tips for delivering feedback in the most constructive way6 tips for delivering feedback in the most constructive wayWhether yourmanagerial styleis free spirit or more results-driven Realist, youre a serious bossbabe who brings her own set of much-needed attributes to her team. Maybe its your ability to make independent decisions, or maybe its your peacemaking expertise - but its probably elend your mastery of constructive criticism, right?First-time managersand seasoned vets alike struggle with this task, so dont feel self-conscious if you dread those one-on-one meetings with your team members. Ashley Cox, leadership development expert and founder ofSproutHR, gave us some insider tips for tactfully and effectively conveying some not-so-positive input so you can quit stressin and get back to killin it.1. Keep it clear and conciseChannel your inner Rory Gilmore and prepare, prepare, prepare. Beforehand, make sure to privately go over what you want and need to share during the conver sation. If it will help you stay on track and remember essential details, you might even want to write down bullet points and bring them with you to the meeting. Being prepared will help ease your nerves and keep your conversation focused, Cox says. Remember, as nervous as you are delivering this information, the person on the other end is 10 times as nervous hearing it.2. Humanize the conversationAt one point or another in your career, you received some constructive criticism that stung at least a little bit (you wouldnt be where you are otherwise). Keep this in mind when youre trying to convey your feedback. How would you want to receive the information that youre about to deliver? Once youve answered this question, adjust according to their personality type. When delivering constructive criticism, its important to remember that theres a human being on the other side of the conversation - one with dreams, goals, feelings and, yes, a life going on outside of work, Cox emphasizes. Take into consideration that something external could be impacting their overall performance and seek to understand whats going on.3. Avoid extremesYou dont want to leave the meeting feeling like a mean boss, but you also dont want to walk away feeling like you didnt get your point across. The best way to ensure neither of these outcomes is to avoid extremes (i.e., being to blunt or too delicate). Being too blunt can prompt the employee to go on the defensive and make them feel uninspired to make changes. Being too delicate can leave the individual feeling confused and equally unmotivated to alter their actions. Cox recommends being both direct and tactful. Being direct helps to ensure your message is communicated clearly and is understood, she explains.4. Address the behavior, not the individualRegardless of how well you and this particular employee jive, theres a reason theyre on your team - because they contribute something valuable. Remember this when talking to them. This acti on or event that youre discussing with the individual is just that - one action or event, Cox states. Were all human. We all mess up. This individuals one mistake or shortcoming does not make them a bad person or even a bad employee. Address the behavior or action as being undesirable, not the individual, Cox reiterates.5. Include the whyThis might seem obvious, but Cox says that throughout her career, shes seen countless incidents of people sharing feedback and then failing to convey why the suggested improvement needs to be made. Its not very helpful if you tell someone that an action they took was wrong if you dont share why, Cox shares. Make sure to explain why this behavior or action directly impacted the team, the customer or the overall company vision. This will put things into perspective for the receiver and ultimately encourage them to make adjustments. And if you cant think of a why, you might want to reevaluate the validity of your critique.6. Move forwardCox doesnt sug arcoat it During the conversation, youll be uncomfortable. After the conversation, youll probably still feel uncomfortable. And thats okay, she assures us. But make a concerted effort to proceed as you modellly would, whether thats joking around, making small talk or whatever your normal style is. Because youre the boss, the individual will take cues from you about how to act. Dont make it weird and it wont be, Cox says. After all, you just shared some feedback to help the individual and the team improve. Nothing weird about that at allThis article was originally published on Brit + Co.

What to Leave Out of a Cover Letter

What to Leave Out of a Cover LetterWhat to Leave Out of a Cover LetterAhhh the deckblatt letter. The make or break (mostly break) document for most candidates job-seeking prospects. A well-crafted, effective titelseite letter can provide an efficient snapshot of experience, skills and other characteristics to would-be employers. A bad cover letter, on the other hand, can facilitate your entire applications quick journey into the circular filing bin.While we often spend a great deal of time on how-tos, tutorials and the like, its a far rarer find for a blog to spell out the must not should not and never in a million years type of advice. With that in mind, and with the goal of helping you craft a resume that lands you the job of your dreams, here are a few pieces of advice when it comes to what to leave out of a cover letter.Anything and Everything GenericLook, we get it. You had a late night, maybe indulged in one too many slices of cake or glasses of Uncle Jerrys fabulous homemade b rew. The next morning, while still wearing your cats are the best fuzzy pajamas and safely snuggled under your covers, you open up your daily email update from Simply Hired, only to find just the right job, staring you straight in the face. While your first inclination may be to download some run of the mill cover letter, change a few names, dates and distributionspolitiks and hit the send button, this is actually the worst action you could possibly take.If a job application calls for a cover letter, you better bet your PJ matching fuzzy slippers that your prospective employer will be giving these critical documents a once over when it comes time to make selections regarding callbacks and interviews. A personalized cover letter will quickly identify why your name should be on the top of that list. TLDR (Or Too Long Didnt Read, for the Less Hip Among Us)Cover letters are one of those formulaic documents that have a set, expected, brevity by those who are used to reviewing them in mas s quantities. When you consider that most companies receive an average of 250 applications for any given open position, you can see why an overly verbose cover letter could be a bit of putting. Keep your introduction short, sweet and to the point. Convey critical information that makes your candidacy shine in 300 words or less. You wont be earning any bonus points for extra word count here.Summarizing the ResumeWhile your cover letter is certainly an introduction to the hiring manager or other job filling decision maker, this doesnt mean that it should be a simple summary of information theyll be seeing later on in your professional resume. Cover letters should address specific requirements from the companys job listing. In a few sentences, candidates should pick out choice information, but also add in dynamic descriptions, for an explanation on how they make the grade and should be in consideration. Simply recapping information that appears in the resume is a waste of a perfectly g ood opportunity to set yourself apart from the applicant crowd.About those College YearsWhile there may be some entry-level positions that want to know more about potential job candidates, your cover letter isnt the place to give a dissertation on that advanced algebra course or your degree in ancient European animal migration. If youre light on relevant job experience, instead highlight relevant soft or personality skills that are applicable to the given job. Your resume will provide a fine enough snapshot of your university successes and failures in the form of your GPA.Not Following InstructionsPerhaps the biggest mistake would-be applicants can make when it comes to their cover letter is not following the specific instructions of their prospective employer. While many positions ask for simply a relevant cover letter, others may provide prompts for candidates to expound on. Failing to read the fine print could get your application kicked out of consideration. Similarly, pay atten tion to any word counts, deadlines or other specific guidelines the company may supply. Many job application instructions ask you to exclude identifying information in certain personal areas or have hard deadlines for applying. Follow the rules, exclude extraneous, unnecessary or generic info and your cover letter will be more helpful and less hurtful towards your prospects for scoring that lucrative job offer or interview.

An Implant That Grows as a Child Grows

An Implant That Grows as a Child Grows An Implant That Grows as a Child Grows An Implant That Grows as a Child GrowsAdults that suffer from an overly dilated heart valve can have a prosthetic reif implanted to restrict it to normal size. The fix is fairly routine and can be accomplished with a single surgery. Children are not so lucky. As their hearts grow over the years, those reifs have to be replaced, requiring multiple surgeries. And because the problem is more common in adults, there has been less development for devices appropriate for children.Eric Feins, a surgeon at Boston Childrens Hospital, and his colleagues wanted to fix that. The premise, when we started this project, was to say How do we make a ring that has growth potential? Feins says.They first tried out the idea of using a degradable polymer. As it dissolved over time, the diameter of a ring made with such a material would slowly expand. But no matter what the material, a loss in thickness also means a loss in mech anical strength. Thankfully, surgeons were not the only ones brainstorming on the project. I dont come from a heavy engineering background, Feins says. But there are some fairly experienced engineers in our lab, which was hugely beneficial in terms of brainstorming the conceptual design.Artists rendering of a braided, tubular implant that could grow in sync with a childs heart valve. Image Randal McKenzie / Boston Childrens HospitalAny ring with a mechanical element needed to be as simple as possible, with no overlapping pieces that might catch flesh or blood. So the aforementioned engineers ended up turning to that cheap, ageless toy tube, known as the Chinese finger trap. As every child knows, when you stick a finger into each end and pull, the woven fibers of the trap allow it to elongate. It narrows in the process and eventually snares the fingers pulling it. Using such a weave in an animal is not unheard of. Octopi owe their ability to lengthen their limbs, and fit them into na rrow crevices, to a similar arrangement of fibers.The actual trapping element of the toy was immaterial. What was important was its ability to lengthen without losing strength. Feins and his colleagues filled the tubular sleeve with a biodegradable polymer. If you can control the core degeneration, then the braid elongation is controllable and predictable, he says.At the moment, that core is an FDA approved polymerthe researchers wanted to start with something widely used and accepted. But, conceivably, the speed with which the material breaks down could be tweaked to match the growth tarif of a childs heart. Unfortunately, just when and how fast a human heart grows is not completely known. There are not existing heart growth curves in humans, Feins says.So far, the new tricuspid valve annuloplasty ring, as they call it, has only been demonstrated ex vivo on rat tibias and piglet hearts. The next step is to put it into a living animal. But their paper, published this year in Nature Biomedical Engineering, has already sparked interest in medical professionals that work with children in many areas of medicine, particularly otorhinolaryngologists, better known as ear, nose, and throat doctors. I do think that there are potential areas that our lab isnt even aware of because we are specialists ourselves.Regardless of the areas that might profit from Feins ring, thanks to its simplicity, biocompatibility, and proven success in the lab, it could eliminate thousands of surgeries on children in the coming years.Michael Abrams is an independent writer. For Further Discussion The premise, when we started this project, was to say How do we make a ring that has growth potential?Dr. Eric Feins, Boston Childrens Hospital