Professionalism in Criticism & Feedback: Focus on the action not the person & don't exaggerate

 

As we head into year end performance review cycle and get into the oh-so-uncomfortable task of exchanging feedback, it’s a timely reminder to ground ourselves on the excellent, concise advice of Imam Ash-Shafi’ee on criticism and/or giving feedback to others:

💖1. Purify your intentions and Dress your words well.
Put in a deliberate effort to craft your words tactfully and empathetically. Don’t think of this as an opportunity to exact your revenge or unleash your resentful vengeance. Our intention here is naseehah: to enhance and improve - and the words we choose to convey can have a profound difference on the impact it creates. Don’t create an opening for shaitan to sow seeds of hatred and dissent!

وَقُلْ لِعِبَادِي يَقُولُوا الَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ ۚ إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ يَنْزَغُ بَيْنَهُمْ ۚ إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ كَانَ لِلْإِنْسَانِ عَدُوًّا مُبِينًا
"And say to My slaves that they should (only) say those words that are the best. (Because) Shaitan (Satan) verily, sows disagreements among them. Surely, Shaitan (Satan) is to man a plain enemy." (Surah Al-Isra 17:53)

🎯 2. Focus on the action, not the person

This one is important: when we provide criticism and feedback, separate “the work” from “the person”: avoid attacking the person’s character; instead, focus on the task at hand on what he/she did. 

Imam Ash-Shafi’ee emphasized not to call the person a compulsive liar (كَذَّابٌ), but rather, just focus on his output & work deliverables - that the person’s narrations “aren’t usable”

✅ Instead of calling a person “lazy”, address the person’s low productivity output which did not met expectations
✅ Rather than label others as a “toxic co-worker”, focus on the specific behaviors - which that person may or may not realize - which resulted in negative consequences to the people around him/her, such as creating a psychologically unsafe environment, or resulting in other team members avoiding him/her, hampering collaborative work.

📜 3. Don’t exaggerate. Stick to the facts.

When we talk about one’s character, there is always a tendency to exaggerate the “story” based on our perception and blow it out of proportion.

Instead of using “compulsive liar” or labelling a person’s credibility or considering one to be “having no integrity”, stick to the facts: Highlight the behaviors which are perceived as dishonest, or historical evidences of being caught lying.

Extending to this principle, avoid hyperbolic words that can lead to exaggeration such as “always” or “never”. This has the same effect subsequently labelling the person and veering off into "unprofessional" territory.

May Allah make us amongst those who give and receive feedback in the best manner, and make our feedback as a means of naseehah and continuous improvement for success in dunya and akhirah