5 Effective Tips To Deal With Criticism At Work

It happens to all of us. Bad day at work because your boss did not like what you presented and shared a negative feedback? Maybe a senior shows his disappointment over a presentation you spent months working on. While criticism can get demotivating to work with, it can also be a boon. It depends on how you take the criticism.

You need to remember that ego is the end to growth. Convert the feedback into constructive criticism. You might be able to boost your performance and work even better moving forward. Here are a few ways you can slide through criticism and build confidence to work better.

Have an open mind

The first thing you need to do is to have an open mind about receiving any sort of feedback. When you work on something, you obviously tend to feel that you have entirely poured yourself into it. But what you do not realise that is that you might not be observing it from a third perspective. While having your work reviewed, be open to receiving a good, moderate or a negative feedback. If you restrict your mind, you might take the criticism personal and it might result to aggression and negativity. Instead, accept the feedback and than your seniors for showing you how it can be done in a much better way.

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Observe you body language

Do not cross your arms and look down. Uncross your arms and maintain eye contact. Focus on your breathing and slow it down, do not stress while receiving a distressed feedback. It is okay! You are human and you too can make mistakes. There is always scope for improvement. Try to maintain a relaxed body language. It will not only make you look less defensive but also will make it less stressful for you.

Ask Questions

In a conference room, when your boss or senior is criticizing or asking you to make changes, it is natural to hesitate before you ask questions in fear of annoying them more. But you have to! You've got to make clear conversations in order to make sure that you have clarity. Ask them about what exact changes they need you make. make sure both parties agree on the inputs and the expected results.

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Follow-up for progress

Schedule a follow-up meeting or a call with your boss/manager and tell them how you have planned to move ahead with work. This will show that you have taken his inputs seriously and constructively and are working towards it. If you have an issue with the feedback received, this is a good opportunity to mention it without getting angry. This will also help them understand your point of view.

Share the feedback with your confidant

Have a mentor or a close colleague at workplace and share the feed you received with them. It is always better to have different perspectives in order to understand if you really need to work on yourself. This way, you will actively start working on things that need improvement and also make sure that you're not being too hard on yourself.

These ways are effective in dealing with stress and criticism at work. Allow yourself to handle things peacefully and do not stress.