Taking your lumps at work
You know how it feels right after your boss tells you that you have done something wrong.
But you're bound to get criticized sometime at work. So what's an employee to do, other than get a stomachache when the supervisor approaches with a problem?
"The first response is often to resist it, discount it, try to shield ourselves from it," said Nancy DiTomaso, chairwoman of the department of management and global business at Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick.
Successful companies have employee development programs, which by their nature strive to improve performance and behavior, DiTomaso said.
"Even the best athletes in the world and the very best managers in the world spend a great deal of time and effort and money in getting feedback so they can be better and stay at the top," she said.
Here are some tips on what employees should do to handle criticism:
- First, don't take it personally.
"It is a business and this is going to improve the business," said Mark Kremen, senior partner at Training Unlimited LLC, a Bradley Beach, N.J., human resources consulting firm. "You are hired because you have the knowledge, skills and the ability to do the job" or your boss sees your potential.
- Don't overreact.
Some employees may translate criticism into thinking that "if I don't get this together, my job's at risk," said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a Chicago-based outplacement company.
Rather than criticism, think of it as job feedback and be open to it, said Helga Britton, director of human resources at First Financial Federal Credit Union in Wall, N.J.
- Don't become defensive.
"Don't try to justify or rationalize or explain it away in your own mind or with that person," Challenger said. "It is better to say, 'Let me think about that' and then come back to the boss with a plan to resolve that."
Without being defensive, ask for examples of the problem and take notes, he said.
- Make fixing the problem a priority.
"If you can demonstrate that you listened and you responded, that is going to make the boss happy," Challenger said.
MaryBeth Auleta, human-resources administrator at Wayside Technology Group in Shrewsbury, N.J., had a tough boss when she was a secretary at a Wall Street engineering firm in the mid-1980s. She used to ask him what he wanted in detail.
"If you don't ask, how are you going to learn?" she said.
- Try to figure out what's going wrong.
Maybe you need more training or are being interrupted while trying to work, Britton said.
- Remember that learning from mistakes is part of the process of becoming more experienced.
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