This is a challenging topic. Feedback should be designed to improve an employee's performance by: 1. Reducing incidents or practices that impair performance and productivity. 2. Promoting (and praising) incidents or practices that demonstrate outstanding performance and productivity with an eye to increasing the use of these practices. For a model employee, the job is easy--point out the positive practices and request more of the same. For an employee who is having a difficult time adjusting to their role, the job is considerably more difficult...you want to discourage the practices and behavior that are detracting from that employee's performance without angering or discouraging them--that's why I always try to start with a complement, lead into the problem at hand, and then end with suggestions and impress upon them that I am confident that they can solve the issue--without inducing panic! This can be very tricky. I welcome all input! Thanks! Richard--