Call Attention to People’s Mistakes Indirectly.
Instead of criticizing someone of their mistakes directly, do it in an indirect way.
Examples:
A lady hired a construction company to build an addition to her house. She noticed the workers left a mess on her lawn each day. She had her kids neatly piled up the construction lumber debris into the corner. The next day she told the worker she was pleased how neat the lawn was kept and how it didn’t offend the neighbors. The workers made sure the lawn was clean from then on.
A sergeant tried to get army reserves to keep a short haircut. He told them he will cut his hair even shorter than required. He said,
“Gentlemen,” he started, “you are leaders. You will be most effective when you lead by example. You must be the example for your men to follow.” (p. 247)
Abbot spent a lot of time writing a speech for a funeral. He read it to his wife. His wife could have been direct and say it’s terrible. Instead she said it would make an excellent article for North American Review. In this way she praised it without insulting Abbot, and Abbot understood he had to rewrite it.
Instead of using a sentence with praise and then following it with the work “but” use the word “and”
“We’re really proud of you, Johnnie, for raising your grades this term, and by continuing the same conscientious efforts next term, your algebra grade can be up with all the others.” (p. 245)