{
  "schema": "vedokrok.public-item.v1",
  "release_id": "MHC-RPUB-20260920-75ad787a",
  "url": "/knowledge/do-not-hide-the-corrective-point-inside-a-praise-sandwich",
  "id": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0598",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "title": "Do not hide the corrective point inside a praise sandwich",
  "summary": "Kindness is useful; ambiguity is not.",
  "kind": "principle",
  "body": "Recognize real strengths when they matter, but state the corrective point directly and respectfully. Keep praise independent rather than using it as packaging. The receiver should not have to decode which sentence contains the actual request.",
  "limits": [
    "Directness is not permission for contempt, public humiliation or exaggerated certainty."
  ],
  "topics": [
    "union-feedback-to-behavior-change"
  ],
  "intents": [],
  "source_ids": [
    "RS-5B538054D9CC9CEC",
    "RS-C261A3B526BEC2C0"
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "claim": "Evidence reviews find feedback effects are heterogeneous: feedback can improve performance, have no effect, or sometimes worsen it depending on how attention, goals and context are shaped.",
      "source_id": "RS-5B538054D9CC9CEC",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "The review aggregates varied tasks and feedback designs; it does not identify a universally best script.",
      "locator": "Evidence review overview"
    },
    {
      "claim": "Feedback interventions appear more useful when they direct attention toward the task and possible improvement rather than threatening self-esteem or shifting attention to the person.",
      "source_id": "RS-C261A3B526BEC2C0",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "This is a mechanism-level pattern, not a guarantee that neutral wording will prevent defensiveness.",
      "locator": "Discussion of Feedback Intervention Theory moderators"
    }
  ],
  "use_when": [
    "You are softening feedback until the important change is difficult to locate."
  ],
  "avoid_when": [
    "Directness is not permission for contempt, public humiliation or exaggerated certainty."
  ],
  "example": "'The analysis was thorough. The decision table still needs the missing downside case before approval.'",
  "check": "The receiver can identify the corrective request without interpreting a pattern of compliments.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "RS-5B538054D9CC9CEC",
      "title": "Performance feedback: an evidence review",
      "url": "https://prod.cipd.org/en/knowledge/evidence-reviews/performance-feedback/"
    },
    {
      "id": "RS-C261A3B526BEC2C0",
      "title": "Effect of face-to-face verbal feedback on workplace task performance of health professionals",
      "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7170595/"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "RC-159BAAB9ADC60CB8",
      "title": "Turn feedback into one behavior that can actually change",
      "url": "/collections/turn-feedback-into-one-behavior-that-can-actually-change"
    }
  ]
}