When managers convey areas of weakness, employees often became defensive. Defensiveness not only creates awkwardness in the workplace, it also keeps employees from fully absorbing the lessons. Managers need to be able to share useful information in a way that doesn’t cause employees to get defensive.

Giving constructive feedback is one of the most important aspects of any manager’s job, but it’s also one of the hardest tasks to accomplish well. No one wants to hear about the areas where they’re weak and highlighting those areas can easily put the other person on the defensive.