But Sandwich

I took a training course at work on managing people. I learned that when you have negative feedback to give an employee, you should not "sandwich" it between positive feedback--as in, "Your presentation went well, but you shouldn't have set the conference room on fire, but most people were only slightly injured, so it turned out okay."

The employee will only hear the positive.

This is apparently called a "But Sandwich," which the instructor illustrated on a flip chart. It looked like a hamburger. The buns had "+" signs, and the beef had a "-" sign.

I liked the concept so much that after the class I asked the instructor if I could keep the sheet of paper.

I took it home and gave it to Samuel and Ethan. They also liked the concept of But Sandwiches.