Handling Criticism

Nobody enjoys getting criticised. But the truth is, we all need criticism. Here’s how to handle it gracefully.

I see people break down because of criticism. Inside of the workplace and outside. Sometimes it drives people to be pedant perfectionists and lose sight of what’s important. Others lose the will to carry on for fear of not making the grade and their potential is lost.

if you can learn to put aside your ego and use even harsh criticism to get better, you’ll have a powerful tool that can propel you forward personally and professionally or would you rather receive one ill-received piece of feedback at work or sassy comment on an IG post to completely derail your day.

1. Listen to what a critic is saying. Really listen, try to understand that point of view, don’t just nod while I formulate my retorts. Accept just criticism.

2. Don’t be defensive. This is the toughest step for me. Normally I aim to make notes on the feedback to look at at a later date when I am more relaxed. It’s important to note that if you are ready for this you are probably very bullish on personal development. So you should be aiming to improve, but when it’s personal it’s important to remind yourself that you welcome criticism & this person is helping you get better which will allow you to achieve Xyz goals.

3. Don’t expose myself to criticism from people I don’t respect. I pay a lot of attention to criticism from people I respect, but I try to shield myself from criticism from people I don’t know or don’t respect because I fear that I’ll react to it, even though it may be unfounded. So when I get trustworthy criticism, I act on it.

4. Delay my reaction. My former performance coach told me her rule: when she’s upset about something that happened to her, she won’t let herself do anything about it for 1 day – and usually she decides that no action is better than action.

5. Admit my mistakes. If you take the blame when you deserve it, you’ll get the responsibility. It’s true, but also difficult. All that is required from you is to now focus on what needs to be done

6.  Enjoy the fun of failure. Fact is, trying new things and aiming high exposes me to criticism. I remind myself to enjoy the fun of failure to try to re-frame failure and criticism as part of the fun. Otherwise, dread of criticism can paralyse you.