Compliment sandwich

[3] Sandwich feedback has been recommended to sports trainers,[4] health-service managers,[5] online educators[6] and sales personnel.

[7] The intention of the sandwich device is to reduce defensiveness and discomfort, enhance useful communication and make the input better tolerated by the person receiving the coaching.

The behaviour of praising before criticising can be misinterpreted as insincerity or merely instrumental, implying an inauthenticity or lack of trust,[12] leading to its colloquial name of crap sandwich.

: 13 Management Practices that Waste Time and Money:[14] One of the easiest ways to encourage receptivity is to preface your criticism with a positive statement about the person’s job performance or character.

Then close the conversation with an affirmation.The rationale has face validity, i.e. it intuitively works, but there is little empirical research evidencing it is more effective in correcting the behaviour than a straightforward approach or other feedback sequences.

[8] The essential reason for the ineffectiveness of sandwiching is not the delivery of negative feedback itself, but rather the manner through which the supervisor conveyed those messages.

Statements such as "be specific about the behaviour you want the employee to change" need to be well-timed, well-targeted, and well-said, and above all must reflect actual concerns.