Generation Z does not need praise with constructive feedback; they need to know their mentor believes in their potential, David Yeager, PhD, wrote in an essay published Aug. 1 in The Wall Street Journal.
Young people do not appreciate a "compliment sandwich," or constructive criticism prefaced and followed up with positivity, Dr. Yeager, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, wrote.
One reason for this is young people do not care if the person giving feedback is positive. Rather, they care more about being seen as competent and worthy, Dr. Yeager said.
The solution for this is "wise feedback," which Dr. Yeager developed with Geoffrey Cohen, PhD, a social psychologist at Stanford (Calif.) University. It tells the receiver that the feedback is being given because their potential is being recognized. For example, a leader using this method might say: "I'm giving you these comments because I have very high standards, and I know that you can reach them."
In a 2014 study published by the American Psychological Association and led in part by Dr. Yeager and Dr. Cohen, seventh-grade students who received wise-feedback notes on their essays made more than double the suggested corrections than the control group.
Dr. Yeager said this approach "is more attuned to the needs of mentees, who typically don't want to be held to an impossible standard, nor do they want to feel coddled or dismissed."