Handling Negative Feedback at Work

While it’s not easy to accept, we’ve all been there: receiving negative criticism at work.  That said, you need to accept it and not let it bring you down.  In fact, you can actually make criticism work for you depending on how you take it.  If you take it objectively and with the right spirit and not personally, it can actually be beneficial and helpful and can lead you to do your job better.  Negative criticism can help you understand what you’re doing wrong and allow you to fix it.  So the question remains: How do you accept negative criticism without negative feelings?

First off, look for the positives in negative criticism even if you feel like they aren’t there.  Ask the person giving it for concrete examples of things you’ve done wrong in the past so that you can fix them.  Look for ways you can improve.  Ask for suggestions on how you can avoid making the same mistakes again.

Accept your mistakes willingly.  This will help you to not repeat them in the future.  Don’t get defensive.  Try listening.  And if you have made a mistake, acknowledge it; don’t deny.  In other words, fess up.  Remember, you are accountable for your work, your actions and your mistakes.

Be open to the discussion with the person giving the feedback as difficult as that may sound.  Many people always believe their work to be the best and aren’t willing to admit that maybe they do in fact have areas that can be improved upon.  Accepting criticism allows us to understand where we stand on a particular issue and gives us a clearer picture of divergent opinions.

Remain positive and welcome suggestions.  Undoubtedly, negative criticism stings but you should use it as a motivator to do your job better.  While you should acknowledge the negative points, don’t forget that it might bring out positives.

Don’t be complacent.  Many people get over confident when they achieve even the slightest success and often don’t want to admit when they don’t repeat that success.  Keep working to better yourself and keep up your efforts to improve further.

Know your strengths and weaknesses.  Sometimes you need to admit to yourself that you might excel in one area but not another.  No matter how hard you try, sometimes you can’t always be great at everything you do.  Deal with your limitations in the best way you can.  Once you acknowledge what you can improve upon, give it one hundred percent effort.

Listen carefully to the person providing the negative feedback as difficult as that may be to do.  If you can’t accept your failures, you’ll never succeed and make them right. “The main reason for people getting perplexed about feedback is not listening to it properly.”  Even take notes if you feel that could be beneficial.

Don’t become overly emotional.  Try to analyze what the person giving you feedback is really saying and digest it.  Involving your emotions will only detract from being able to objectively consider the value of the feedback.  Focus on facts rather than feelings.  Again, remind yourself that negative feedback can have positive consequences.

Don’t be silent or over-defensive.  “Don’t just be a mute spectator.”  Engage in a conversation with the person giving you the feedback however negative it may be and keep your emotions in check.  After hearing feedback, offer your point of view and maybe even thank the one giving it to you.  If you don’t understand something, ask for a clarification.  You have every right to defend yourself just don’t get overly defensive.  Tell the person giving the feedback why you feel things went wrong and ask for suggestions or even be proactive and offer suggestions for improvement.

Don’t hold grudges as that can be very destructive.  Take away the positives and maybe even admit to yourself that the person giving you the feedback was right.  If you hold grudges, it will negatively affect your ability to work on your problem areas and do a better job in the future.  Accept your weaknesses and work to improve them.  Let the person giving the feedback know that you appreciate it and will take it under careful consideration.

Lastly and most importantly, decide upon corrective action.  After listening to and analyzing feedback no matter how negative, decide upon the actions you want to take to improve your job performance.  Take feedback to heart.  Try and understand why things went wrong and do all you can to fix them and ensure that they won’t happen again.

While handling negative feedback in the workplace can be a very difficult task, it is an important one.  Remind yourself that feedback whether positive or negative is a chance to grow and improve.  If you remain open-minded, you will see that negative feedback as hard as it may be to hear can often allow you to do your job better in the future.

Here are some articles you might want to check out about handling negative criticism at work:

“Six Ways to Deal with Criticism at Work”: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303753904577452330484680636.html

“The Perfect Recipe for Handling Negative Feedback at Work”: http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2012/09/13/the-perfect-recipe-for-handling-negative-feedback-at-work

“So You’re Not Perfect, and You’ve Been Told So…”: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/33805098/ns/business-careers/t/so-youre-not-perfect-youve-been-told-so/#.UfaWwW3fKSo

“Hit Me with Your Best Shot: Handling Criticism at Work”: http://www.thedailymuse.com/career/hit-me-with-your-best-shot-handling-criticism-at-work/

Until next time…