Criticise versus praise

When you observe something, anything, you can either look for the positives in it or choose to see the negatives.  Next time you are in the company of some friends, consider this when you listen to them speak.  Don't open your mouth.... really listen.

As a driving instructor, it is very common to think that your customer wants you to tell them when they are doing things wrong.  You will even hear some customers actually say to you that is all they want you to do.

Don't be distracted.

It is vitally important to be honest, accurate and constructive with your feedback.  It can be very valuable to a pupil for them to hear that you like how they are driving.
Be accurate in your assessment, base it on the DVSA driving standard rather than your opinion, be mindful of the driving test standard, don't forget the Highway Code (your pupils are reading that with any luck).

If you want to see a practical example of this going on right now, actively choose to watch the snooker world championship 2018 on Eurosport rather than the BBC.  There, if you are lucky (as this has literally only just started to happen), you will hear Ronnie O'Sullivan commentating on a match.  For those not in the know, this chap is to snooker what Seth Godin is to entrepreneurialism.  Listen to what he says, even if you have no interest in snooker at all.  This is a person who accentuates the positive. He expresses the positive points of a snooker player, a match, the venue, the sport in general, professional competition.  Whether he be referring to the finer techniques of the sport, or the attitude of a particular player, or how someone practices, the vast majority of his spoken word is positive, constructive and piercingly accurate.  I can only imagine that many old hand commentators must be seriously considering how they need to re-think their commentary as a result.