Another point, I think way too many people confuse "you should give clear feedback that shows you're judging your subordinate's work, not their worth as a person" with "you should sugar-coat feedback so you don't hurt people's feelings".
Even in an environment of trust, people still instinctively take feedback personally, as if saying "what you did doesn't work and you need to improve it" meant "you're a terrible worker and what you did just made you a step closer to getting fired". Even emotionally intelligent people do it without noticing. I've found that for my feedback to be effective, I have to make sure that what the person hears is what I mean to say, which by no means is "softening" the feedback.
Even in an environment of trust, people still instinctively take feedback personally, as if saying "what you did doesn't work and you need to improve it" meant "you're a terrible worker and what you did just made you a step closer to getting fired". Even emotionally intelligent people do it without noticing. I've found that for my feedback to be effective, I have to make sure that what the person hears is what I mean to say, which by no means is "softening" the feedback.