Saturday, August 9, 2014

Criticism - Fragile, Handle with Care


“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.”

Face it. No matter how well you perform your duties throughout your career, someone will always criticize you.
The more successful you are, the more you might become a target of criticism. No one likes having the quality of their work belittled, the soundness of their decisions questioned or their integrity challenged, but it's how you deal with criticism that determines your power and how big a man you really are.

How we generally respond to criticism

There are 3 ways that most people respond. In general, people completely agree with the criticism, they resist the criticism or they ignore it.

Depending on what your personality is like, you may be more likely to respond to criticism in one of these ways. If a client gives you feedback about a project you're working on, you might completely agree. Or if a less-than-professional website visitor leaves "you suck" feedback on your blog, you might fight back with something nastier or you might ignore it.

How we should respond to criticism
There are 3 ways that  we should respond to criticism:

On the continuum between ignore and resist, there is "professional disagreement". This is where we engage the person in a professional debate that is respectful and, if necessary, private.
Not all criticism is bad and on the continuum between resisting and agreeing there is a point when we learn. It's about the place when understanding and clarity takes over from ignorance.
Lastly, there is transition. This is when you may or may not acknowledge the criticism as a prompt but you do make a course adjustment as a result.

Next time someone gives you negative feedback -  whether helpful, well-intended, insulting, or completely unreasonable - don't react the way you normally would. Consider a moderate approach that will help you emerge as a thoughtful professional.
Just be happy without a reason, keep a smile all the season,
Life is too short to be stressed, so stay happy, stay blessed!!

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