When it comes to giving negative feedback at work, the so-called "compliment sandwich"—praise, criticism, praise—may no longer be effective, according to ongoing research from the Ivey Business School in Ontario.

The classic method of delivering criticism became popular as a way to soften difficult conversations. But Karen MacMillan, professor of organizational behavior, says the sandwich has gone stale.

"The compliment sandwich doesn't work for a number of reasons," MacMillan told Newsweek . "Used regularly, receivers start to ignore the positive as they wait for the other shoe to drop. Also, it can make the sender seem disingenuous, [people think] 'he's saying fake things to set me up for some bad news.'"

The rise and fall of the feedback sandwich

The compliment sandwich (also call

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