6 Beneficial Tips to Handle Criticism at Work

As a professional, we have all faced a situation in life where our manager or a department head shares negative feedback during our performance review that seems to come out of left field. A co-worker may provide a criticism of a presentation that may have worked on for months. So we need to know how to handle criticism at work. Although criticism at work could be difficult to deal with, it could also be highly beneficial for you. Without having constructive feedback, it’s impossible for boosting your performance and get better at your craft. Fortunately, the choice of how to handle negative input is yours. In this article, we will provide you 6 beneficial tips to handle criticism at work.

Don’t react but respond

When you initially receive criticism, you don’t have to do anything. You should not react at all. You will have a few minutes for the purpose of stopping your individual reaction. If there is a moment that may seem insignificant in your life, it’s ample time for your brain for the purpose of processing a situation. In that specific moment, you have the option to halt a dismissive facial expression or reactive quip. You can remind yourself for staying cool, calm and collective in a specific situation and handle criticism at work.

Don’t forget the benefit of getting feedback

To handle criticism at work you now have the time for reminding yourself of the various benefits of receiving constructive criticism. This could help you to improve your individual skills, productivity, relationships. Moreover, it can also help you to fulfill the expectations that your manager may have of you. You should focus on curtailing a reaction that you may have for the person providing the feedback. It could well be challenging for receiving criticism from a colleague, peer, co-worker or anyone that you may not fully respect. However, it is essential to provide accurate and constructive feedback that may well come even from flawed sources.

Listen to understand

You may have now avoided your reaction and have recalled the various benefits of receiving feedback. You are now ready for engaging in having a productive dialogue because of your competent, thoughtful self. It is essential to closely listen to the feedback of the person providing the feedback with you. Moreover, you should also allow an individual for sharing their complete thoughts, without interruption. If they’re done, you should repeat back what you heard. It is essential to avoid questioning or analyzing an individual’s assessment. Instead, you should just emphasize on understanding their perspective. It is indeed difficult for providing feedback to another individual. You should recognize that the individual providing you feedback could well be nervous or does not express their ideas in a perfect manner.

Always say thank you

You should thank the person for sharing feedback with you, it's a good way to handle criticism at work. It is essential to be deliberate, and say, “I really appreciate you taking the time to talk about this with me.” You should also express appreciation doesn’t have to mean you’re agreeing with the assessment. Rather it does illustrate that you’re acknowledging the effort your colleague took to evaluate you and share his or her thoughts.

Asking questions for deconstructing feedback

It is now time for processing the feedback. As an individual, you may want to gain clarity at this point and provide your perspective. You should also avoid engaging in a debate. As a result, you should also focus on asking questions that can help you to go to the absolute core of the actual problem being raised along with providing potential solutions for addressing them. It is essential to focus on seeking specific examples to help them in understanding the issue. You should also focus on understanding whether this is an isolated issue. One should also look for concrete solutions in addressing the feedback.

Requesting time to get a follow-up

By this point in the conversation, you have the option to agree upon the different issues that had been raised. When you articulate what you plan to do going forward and have gratitude for the person again for providing their feedback, you can then close the conversation and move on. If this is a much serious issue and was presented to you by your senior manager, you may be required to provide for a follow-up meeting in asking more questions and get agreement on the next steps. This will provide you time for processing the feedback, seeking advice from others and thinking about solutions.