Criticism is a natural part of a workplace environment. After all, how will your corporate wellness improve if you don’t know what’s wrong with it in the first place? Still, hearing negative feedback can take its toll on your sense of wellbeing, so here are four tips to help get you through it.
1. Listen closely. Is the criticism you’re receiving constructive? Is there any merit in it? Let’s say your partner tells you he’d like a bit more space; that can be hard to hear initially, but could eventually improve your relationship wellness. Therefore, if your boss mentions something, your mindset should be geared towards learning and adapting, rather than jumping into defence mode.
2. Respond calmly. Whether the criticism is helpful or just plain rude, your response should always be respectful (it may help to take a deep breath first!). Thank the person if the feedback is useful and constructive, and if it isn’t, simply smile and – as my mother would say – kill ‘em with kindness. If it hurts when someone criticises you, it’s even worse when it’s not true, but this doesn’t mean you should let it make you a smaller person. Be better than that, and prove them wrong.
3. Be objective. When someone criticises your work or a behaviour trait, you can end up feeling criticised as a whole person. Just because you got a D on your maths GCSE, it didn’t take away anything from your A* in English Literature. Instead, it meant that you needed to focus more on that subject or accept the fact that algebra just wasn’t for you. So, when a colleague or your boss mentions something you could improve, try to remove yourself from the situation and zero in on what’s being critiqued.
4. Keep going. Criticism can knock you on your backside, but you still have to get back on that horse. At the end of the day, no one knows you better than you and if you really disagree with a criticism; don’t let it get to you. Remember, it’s just one person’s point of view, and it shouldn’t stop you from realising your strengths, or working towards your goals.
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