How Can You Handle Criticism in the Workplace?
Everyone, especially in the workplace, will face criticism from time to time. Some people are naturally better at digesting criticism, but that isn’t the case for most of us. Work is one of the areas in life where we (hopefully) are striving to succeed and make a positive impact. This is one of the reasons why unexpected criticism can hit so hard. Many employees pour much of their energy and emotions into their jobs, so receiving even one negative comment at work can feel devastating, ruining the rest of the day or perhaps the entire week. Thankfully, there are tools and mindset changes we can acquire to help us handle criticism better when it inevitably occurs.
Don’t Take it Personally
Whether or not the criticism is delivered rudely, it should still be taken as impersonally as possible. If we allow criticisms to carry too much weight, we risk evaluating our worth according to the opinions of others. While the opinions of your superiors definitely matter and should be taken into consideration, they should mainly affect your work, not how you feel as an individual. Allowing criticisms to dictate how we think of ourselves means that the praises and compliments of others will similarly influence us. Compliments and criticisms are only as powerful as we allow them to be.
Evaluate the Accuracies
Criticism from colleagues should, in theory, come from a caring and professional place. Unfortunately, that is not always the case, but in every instance, you should evaluate criticism to see if there is any truth to it. Even if the feedback is delivered in a mean way, it can still be based on realities that could help us to improve as individuals. This step is also critical in not taking criticism personally. When we leave it up to us to determine which parts of the objections are likely accurate, we bring more control over the impact others’ words have over us.
React Graciously
It’s not uncommon to feel heated, defensive, embarrassed or sad when we are criticized. But one of the best ways to stop negative emotions from getting the better of us in those moments is to receive the critique kindly, even if we don’t feel very kind internally. A simple, “thank you for telling me,” can suffice. We may not feel fully thankful for the comment at that moment, and it may turn out that, after evaluation, we don’t think there is any truth to what that person has said. However, we can be thankful that the one delivering the critique was able to get something off of their mind. Communication in the workplace should always be encouraged, so at the very least, we can be gracious and thankful to them for speaking their mind. It is also important to consider what truth there may be in the criticism and try and make adjustments, rather than automatically going into defensive/denial mode. I found that when I receive criticism, there is usually some level of truth in it that I need to focus on and make some change.
The next time criticism comes, remember to thank the person delivering the critique, see if there is any truth to what they have said and do your best not to take it personally, knowing that no matter what people say or think of us, the Most High God made you with careful intention and loves you as you are. At the same time, none of us is perfect, we can all improve, and take criticism as an opportunity to realize that corrections can always be made to help you become the person that God intended you to be!