Rewarding your peers for a job well done is easy and fun to do. As an editor-in-chief, praise is often needed to motivate staff members and just encourage those who are working hard. However, in many cases, constructive criticism is necessary but difficult to communicate.

Sarah speaking:

I admire people who can deliver bad news in a friendly package. Sure, I can praise someone. In fact, I am great at giving the same praise out using only slightly modified adjectives. I could name about 12 different ways to tell someone they’re doing a great job right now. When it comes to critiquing someone, however, even with good intentions in mind, I struggle to put the weight of failure on another person. I tend to apologize in times I find myself discomforted by the negative words I am telling someone. Despite my agony though, I am slowly learning that to get others to respect you and in order to teach effectively, the truth is essential. When I stop to think I realize the respect I have for those who tell me the truth. There has been more than a few times that my adviser Kathy Habiger has handed me back a story covered in threatening red ink. In hindsight though, her efforts to help me improve, saved me from greater failure in the long run and I know she wouldn’t make an effort if I were a hopeless cause. So to all my staffers: you are not a hopeless cause, I am telling you the truth because I believe in you.

Jill speaking:

Although we hope it will never happen, there always comes a time when you have to tell a staff member that they might need to change something that they’ve done. It’s never fun and never easy.  In fact, it might just be one of my least favorite things to do.  One thing I always seem to forget though, is that they probably want or need my help and just don’t know how to ask for it. I know that this month has been stressful trying to put the first issue together and I’m really upset that I haven’t been able to help as much as I wanted to because I over-booked myself just a little when doing story assignments. I just hope that I can learn from this month and that next month I will be able to help even more, and earlier on in the issue, so that last minute constructive criticism isn’t even necessary.

Lesson of the week:

1. It’s okay to give constructive criticism. People won’t take it personally and it helps the staff learn new things that they might not have known.

Lesson five of being an editor-in-chief: check.