The devil doesn't need another advocate

Criticism is almost never required, so make sure it's helpful if you give it

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to make sure that critiques are aimed at
being helpful and that you are direct when giving them. So.

(00:26):
I recently learned about a leader who likes to tell
her team the devil doesn't need another advocate. In other words,
don't feel the need to play devil's advocate by expressing
an opposing point of view just to do so. So
if you find yourself starting to say, if I had

(00:46):
to offer one criticism, stop, you don't have to offer
any criticisms. Now. I do believe there is a place
for robust discussion. Nothing is ever perfect, but I do
think this leader is on to something that playing devil's
advocate is not always helpful. When people refer to playing

(01:08):
devil's advocate, they are not expressing the alternative view in
their own voice. They are voicing the perspective of this
hypothetical devil's advocate. Likewise, when people say if I had
to offer one criticism, they are not standing behind their feedback.
They are presenting it as though offering a criticism or

(01:29):
compulsory as though someone said they had to offer one critique,
but that is almost never the case. If something is fine,
it is fine. If you see something that you believe
needs to be changed, then state what that is and
what you would like to see be different. For instance,

(01:49):
you could simply say I think we should consider how
newcomers might experience this new procedure, or overall, I thought
the event was great, but there was a bottleneck when
people were checking in. Maybe we could explore a different
system for next year. Neither of these comments feels overly
negative or critical. They are forward looking and productive and direct.

(02:12):
They are intended to help the team get better. Sometimes, though,
feedback or offering a different perspective isn't actually going to
help the team get better. This might be because the
feedback isn't relevant to anything that's happening in the future,
or because there is nothing that can be done about
whatever the irritation is. When that is the case, you

(02:33):
can just hold your tongue. Sometimes kids are taught when
offering feedback to evaluate if something is honest or kind
or necessary. I might also add productive to the list,
and these are valuable questions for adults to ask as
well before offering criticism. If it will be helpful, great.

(02:56):
But if you are arguing just to argue or criticizing
because that feels more sophisticated than simply letting something that
is acceptable be acceptable, just remember the devil doesn't need
another advocate. You don't have to offer any criticism at all.

(03:17):
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.

(03:46):
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