Feedback that feels clear and fair to you can feel blunt, or too vague to act on, to someone else. When your team spans countries and backgrounds, good feedback depends less on a formula and more on checking how it lands.

People differ in how directly they expect criticism to be delivered, whether it should be given privately or in a group, and how much trust needs to be in place first. These preferences vary by person as much as by country, so avoid treating anyone as a representative of a whole culture. Ask, observe and adjust.

Keep the message clear, adapt the delivery

Whatever the style, the person needs to know three things: what happened, why it matters and what to do next. What you can adapt is the setting, the pace and how much context you give. Softening the delivery is fine; softening the message until it disappears is not.

A workplace example

Try this in practice

1. Ask each person early how they prefer to receive feedback, before there is a problem.
2. Give corrective feedback in private unless the person has said otherwise.
3. Describe the specific behaviour and its effect, not the person.
4. Be explicit about the action needed, rather than relying on hints.
5. Check what the person heard, and agree when you will follow up.

Do not read silence as agreement

Silence after feedback can mean agreement, reflection, disagreement or discomfort with challenging a manager. Follow up one-to-one, invite questions and make it easy to raise concerns later. This is the Respond step of the EQ at Work method, shaped by everything you learned in the Understand step.

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