What is the most constructive way to give negative feedback to an employee?

By criticising  an employees in friendly manner so that he can think we are trying to develop his skills.

•Constructive feedback is information-specific, issue-focused, and based on observations. It comes in two varieties: Praise and criticism are both personal judgments about a performance effort or outcome, with praise being a favorable judgment and criticism, an unfavorable judgment. Information given is general and vague, focused on the person, and based on opinions or feelings. •Be direct when delivering your message. Get to the point and avoid beating around the bush. Both negative and positive feedback should be given in a straightforward manner. •Avoid "need to" phrases, which send implied messages that something that didn't go well. For example, "Jane, you need to get your reports turned in on time, and you need to spell check them." This message is not really performance feedback. It implies that Jane did not do something well with her reports, but it doesn't report exactly what happened. Providing clarity on what occurred is the aim of feedback. •Be sincere and avoid giving mixed messages. Sincerity says that you mean what you say with care and respect. Mixed messages are referred to as "yes, but" messages. For example, "John, you have worked hard on this project, but. . . ." What follows is something the person is not doing well and is the real point of the message. The word "but," along with its cousins "however" and "although," when said in the middle of a thought, create contradictions or mixed messages. In essence, putting "but" in the middle tells the other person, "Don't believe a thing I said before." •In positive feedback situations, express appreciation. Appreciation alone is praise. Yet when you add it to the specifics of constructive feedback, your message carries an extra oomph of sincerity. For example: "Sue, your handling of all the processing work while John did the callbacks made for an efficient effort and showed good teamwork. Everything you did was accurate, as well. Thanks so much for helping out. Such initiative is a real value to the team." •In negative feedback situations, express concern. A tone of concern communicates a sense of importance and care and provides the appropriate level of sincerity to the message. Tones such as anger, frustration, disappointment, and the ever-popular sarcasm tend to color the language of the message and turn attempts at negative feedback into criticism. The content of the message gets lost in the noise and harshness. The purpose of negative feedback is to create awareness that can lead to correction or improvement in performance. If you can't give negative feedback in a helpful manner, in the language and tone of concern, you defeat its purpose. •Give the feedback person-to-person, not through messengers of technology. The nature of constructive feedback is verbal and informal. That can be done only by talking live to the employee, either face-to-face — or by phone when you physically can't be together. •State observations, not interpretations. Observations are what you see occur; interpretations are your analysis or opinion of what you see occur. Tell what you've noticed, not what you think of it, and report the behavior you notice at a concrete level, instead of as a characterization of the behavior. Observations have a far more factual and nonjudgmental aspect than do interpretations.

Feedback should be concrete and there always should be a construal fit between you and your subordinate which means he has to be programmed to take your feedback in a positive manner, not the other way round always. You can't expect someone to take the feedback as such unless he is not in a position to takethat. Then motivate him like"if you do it this way you can improve" things like that. I'm not sure I'm right.

Praising good performance is easy, but what about those times when someone on your team needs a kick in the butt more than a pat on the back?

In that case, you'll need to give some negative feedback--and do it without demotivating or demoralizing the other person. This post explains exactly how to do this.

Before we get started, though, it's important to remember that the goal of feedback is not to tell people what to do or how to do it. That's mistaking the process for the goal.

The actual goal of feedback--even negative feedback--is to improve the behavior of the other person to bring out the best in your entire organization.

With that in mind, here are the10 rules:

1. Make negative feedback unusual.

When a work environment becomes filled with criticism and complaint, people stop caring, because they know that--whatever they do--they'll get raked over the coals. "I try to give seven positive reinforcements for every negative comment," says Dan Cerutti, a general manager at IBM.

2. Don't stockpile negative feedback.

Changes in behavior are more easily achieved when negative feedback is administered in small doses. When managers stockpile problems, waiting for the "right moment,"employees can easily become overwhelmed.

"Feedback is best given real time, or immediately after the fact," explains management coachKate Ludeman.

3. Never use feedback to vent.

Sure, your job is frustrating--but although it might make you feel better to get your own worries and insecurities off your chest, venting a string of criticisms seldom produces improved behavior. In fact, it usually creates resentment and passive resistance.

4. Don't email negative feedback.

People who avoid confrontation are often tempted use email as a vehicle for negative feedback. Don't.

"That's like lobbing hand grenades over a wall," says legendary electronic publishing guruJonathan Seybold. "Email is more easily misconstrued, and when messages are copied, it brings other people into the fray."

5. Start with an honest compliment.

Compliments start a feedback session on the right footing, according to according to management consultant board member at the supercomputer company Cray. "Effective feedback focuses on the positive while still identifying areas for further growth and better outcomes."

6. Uncover the root of the problem.

You can give better feedback if you understand how the other person perceives the original situation. Asking questions such as, "Why do you approach this situation in this way?" or "What was your thought process?" not only provides you perspective, but it can lead other people to discover their own solutions and their own insights.

7. Listen before you speak.

Most people can't learn unless they first feel that they've been heard out. Effective feedback "means paying attention and giving high-quality feedback from an empathic place, stepping into the other person's shoes, appreciating his or her experience, and helping to move that person into a learning mode," says Ludeman.

8. Ask questions that drive self-evaluation.

Much of the time, people know where they're having problems and may even have good ideas about how to improve. Asking questions such as "How could we have done better?" and "What do you think could use improvement?" involves the other person in building a shared plan.

9. Coach the behaviors you would like to see.

Negative feedback is useless without a model for how to do better. But simply telling the other person what to do or how to do it is usually a waste of time.

Instead, use this tried-and-true coaching method, which is based upon what top sports coaches do.

10. Be willing to accept feedback, too.

If you truly believe that negative feedback can improve performance, then you should be willing to accept it as well as provide it. In fact, few things are more valuable to managers than honest feedback from employees. It's to be treasured rather than discouraged or ignored.

Performance feedback can be given two ways: through constructive feedback or through praise and criticism. Don't fall into the trap of giving praise and criticism on employee performance.

Track performance as the job is getting done and not periodically.

We can provide negative feedback to an employee related  to:

*Job Performance that involves competency,whether or not the employee is capable of performing task that has been assigned.

* Work Related behavior that involves the way the employee performs his/her tasks.

But the Negative Fedback should not focus on the person and the situation,it should focus on the behavior to make the negative feedback became constructive feedback.