I stumbled into an article about feedback, as one does, and Number 4 was a stinker.

Why a stinker? Well, it’s a cultural and generational stereotype that a particular form of feedback, the Criticism Sandwich, is old and tired and everyone knows it.

I used to run a manager training at an international company and one segment was on feedback. Being an American Millennial, I had tasted and spit out the Criticism Sandwich for the very same reasons the article underlined: it devalues the praise as a false overture, people see it coming and start to lock up, and it occludes the substantive feedback you want to give.

“Give feedback to your employees directly, empathetically, without the fluff,” my notes said.

When framing the discussion during the training, I asked the leading question: what is the best way to deliver feedback? My American colleagues responded as expected. Sandwiches are OUT. Criticism should be fresh, unadulterated, medium rare.

Sustainably-sourced criticism only, please.

However, when asking my UK and some of my Southeast Asian colleagues, the Criticism Sandwich was very much on the menu.

“It’s a little rude to just come out and label someone a failure,” was one response. “We’re a little more proper about critique here,” was another. “I would correct their work and let them come to me to apologize for making a mistake,” fully expecting that their direct reports would take the correction as unvoiced feedback. To that manager, there was a clear behavioral dance around feedback.

I wanted to check that this wasn’t just new or inexperienced managers that hadn’t gotten the memo that sandwiches are unfashionable, so I connected with senior leaders from those countries. Their nuanced perspective was that yes, around the UK and China particularly, the criticism sandwich was normal and the blunt criticism was abnormal.

‘Bad news is handled delicately’ was the general consensus and some senior leaders agreed that with some individuals, the criticism sandwich was the best method to drive actual change. They also stated that they preferred the blunt direct feedback, especially as a senior leader where people down the chain mostly equivocate around bad news.

However, they recognized that corporate culture added ANOTHER layer of “what is normal”. Depending on who sets the corporate culture, they tend to imbue unspoken cultural mores. You can imagine a situation with a new manager in the UK managing remote workers in Germany and Singapore in a US headquartered company...do you recommend that they serve criticism nestled in praise or straight up?

Or do you serve a feedback salad where an employee is never quite sure if it’s praise or criticism?

Culture norms play heavily into feedback. An online article can only spotlight the factors you should consider, not unilaterally ban the Critical Sammy. The safest course of action is to ask, ideally before criticism ever has to be given. It’s a discussion that we recommend new managers have with their new direct reports based off the Strengths Interview from First, Break All the Rules, originally by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. It’s about two-thirds through the book, but it has a series of questions that are absolute gold for new managers:

What did you enjoy most about your previous work experience? What brought you here?
What keeps you here?
What do you think your strengths are?
What about your weaknesses?
What are your goals for your current role? (Ask for scores and timelines)
How often do you like to meet with me to discuss your progress? Are you the kind of person who will tell me how you are feeling or do I have to ask?
Do you have any personal goals or commitment you would like to tell me about?
What is the best praise you have ever received?
Have you had any really productive partnerships or mentors?
What are your future growth goals and career goals?
Are there any particular skills you want to learn?
Is there anything else you want to talk about that might help us work well together?

After a conversation through the above, new managers have a much better understanding of how their people prefer to be treated. It’s also the start of a much richer dialogue: their answers may change over time but knowing where the journey began is delicious context. Perhaps as the relationship warms, they might want to taste different forms of feedback. As Chef Criticism, you can cater to the tastes of your team as long as you’re still supplying constructive advice that helps them grow and you achieve business objectives.

Just don’t assume they hate the sandwich.