Strategic HR Technology Investment: A Comprehensive Checklist for Global HR Teams
Negative feedback is the worst.
No really, it is the worst in that it can destroy your confidence, fill you with doubt and make you feel like a talentless hack.
And then there is the fact that if the feedback wasn’t delivered properly, your ego could also take a beating.
But here’s the thing about negative feedback. The way you receive the feedback plays a big role in whether the other person thinks the feedback given was justified.
Dealing with negative feedback in the workplace is not easy. But here are a few tips that will help you swallow what is a mostly bitter pill.
When you know a feedback session is coming, it’s best to prepare yourself. Regardless of whether its going to be negative or positive, it’s always good to be prepared. Most managers will inform you if there’s a feedback session upcoming. Nobody wants to blindside the person whose on the receiving end of feedback.
When we’re listening to a list of our faults, our first idea is to vehemently and strenuously defend ourselves. But that’s not going to help your case at all. In fact, it just might make things worse. Instead, keep quiet and listen. This listening is going to take a lot of effort and it might feel like you are swallowing your pride. But it’s a move that’s going to make you look like mature and professional as opposed to defensive and angry. When you listen to criticism quietly and gracefully, it gives the other person time to temper their opinion of you.
When receiving feedback, one thing you’ve got to take stock of is the person who’s giving the feedback. Is it a person you’ve always had a good rapport with? Is it someone who has a reputation for being harsh? Is it someone who is not directly involved with your work? For example, if the person giving negative feedback is your direct superior who you have always been on excellent terms with, then you need to step back and examine your actions and listen to what they are saying. On the other hand, if the person giving negative feedback is someone who’s not directly involved with your work, you could take it in your stride, while still being respectful about it.
Once a person is done giving you negative feedback, first things first apologize sincerely. It reflects poorly on you when you don’t apologize at all or you apologize too much.
Just you are not supposed to brush off any and all feedback that you receive, you are not supposed to blow the feedback you receive out of proportion. This especially goes for negative feedback.
This is probably the hardest part to swallow but it bears repeating time and time again that negative feedback you receive is not a scathing indictment of you. Everybody makes mistakes and some of us might make bigger mistakes than the others. Those mistakes do not define our entire careers. Know that you will make colossal mistakes at some point in your life, and you will be raked over hot coals for it. But there will be good times too.
There will come a point in your life when you too will be handing out negative feedback. If you are interested in doing that in a way where the person receiving the feedback is not freaking out, then look out for the next article in this feedback series!
Engagedly’s feedback feature is extremely easy to use. To see it in action, request a demo!
