Scott Smith health care consultant (2/25/2010)

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... You should work in HR.

majorbloodnock (2/25/2010)

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Agree totally with the editorial. Constructive criticism is almost always the right thing to do, and if it's not appreciated then at least you know you did the right thing.

I'll also suggest a good rule of thumb (closely linked with Tim's point) is to criticise privately and congratulate publicly.

IMHO, of course....

majorbloodnock (2/25/2010)

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I'll also suggest a good rule of thumb (closely linked with Tim's point) is to criticise privately and congratulate publicly.

The other important thing is to recognize that you might not be right.

jcrawf02 (2/25/2010)

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I think I will have to disagree with you, for purely selfish reasons, if the setting is a forum such as SSC. With the intarwebz so open to search, if the 'mistake' (small or great) is not pointed out within the same document that it originates from, others (read: I) will stumble upon it when looking for answers and be misled. This is why I come to SSC, because the discussions often lead to a much more profound understanding of what is going on.

That said, the correction should have a modicum of restraint, not "Hey, you idiot, why can't you do anything right?...", but rather "I would disagree, because of X and Y, the correct answer should be Z".

If the setting is in the office, then I would agree that the mistake should be corrected privately, unless it causes critical errors that need fixed immediately, and training needs noted for the group.