By Steve Moran
The feedback sandwich has been around since the 1940s but wasn’t widely used until the 1980s when it was popularized by Mary Kay Ash, the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics. Her belief was that any criticism should be layered between two layers of massive praise.
Her thinking was that it would make it easier for managers to deliver negative feedback and ensure that the team member receiving the criticism would tolerate it better.
While it’s a popular technique, there has been little research into its effectiveness. Organizational psychologist Adam Grant, in his Substack article titled “Stop serving the compliment sandwich,” offers several reasons why it’s not that effective and makes suggestions for a better way…
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