101: Handling Criticisms
It isn't easy hearing from a business partner, client or investor that something you did wasn't perfect. Accepting constructive criticism is a skill that needs to be learned, just like budgeting, public speaking and schmoozing. Here are three ways to take the sting out of what may be perceived as negative comments — and take away what's most helpful to you and your career.
Respond to the suggestions, not the tone. Work to dissect the meaning of what the person is saying from how they said it, suggests an article at LifeHack.com. Don't let the way the message was delivered distract you from trying to learn or improve. “Even if people speak in a tone of anger, we should try to detach their emotion from the useful suggestions which lie underneath,” the article says.
Pause and evaluate. Don't react immediately. Take some time to think it over. Was the criticism offered constructively? Did it give action to consider and was it future-oriented? Or was it destructive — with words such as "always, never, should" — and focused on the past? These are some questions Patti Hathaway suggests you ask yourself in an article at Presentation-pointers.com.
Don't take it personally (ha!). Agreed; it's very much easier said than done. “Take note that they're talking about your work, not you as a person,” advises an article by Belle Yambao at FemaleNetwork.com. An honest criticism is not meant to be an attack, but a nugget of information for you to build upon and become a better executive.
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