Fear, worry, anger.

Three extremely common emotions many people experience when they receive feedback.

But why do we tend to associate feedback with negativity and how can we overcome these emotions?

The Truth About Why People Tend to Dislike Like Feedback

One of the main reasons many people dislike receiving feedback and criticism is because they know that what’s being said is true, but don’t want to admit it to themselves.

The fear of disappointing others along with the desire to please employers and colleagues also plays a part in why many people get upset, stressed and irritated when their actions are critiqued.

If you’d like some more detail about why many people resent feedback, click here to see an incredibly informative article by Author Meg Lightheart.

Why Changing Our Perspective of Feedback is Important

Often, when people give feedback and critique others, they aren’t trying to offend or upset them; usually they just want to help their team members grow and improve.

A good way to look at feedback is by thinking of professional development as a jigsaw puzzle. 

You can’t complete a jigsaw without the puzzle pieces, just like you can’t develop professionally without knowing what areas you need to improve on.

Gaining feedback is arguably one of the best, most effective ways of identifying your areas for improvement.

How to Seek Out Constructive and Informative Feedback

There are many ways to gain feedback from employers and colleages, including carrying out 360-degree reviews.

As we mentioned in our previous article, 360-degree reviews allow you to quickly and easily get honest feedback from other people.

If you missed our previous article discussing 360-reviews, you can click here to read it.

What to Do When You Receive Criticism

Picture this: you’ve just completed your 360-degree reviews and one of your colleagues suggested that it may be beneficial to work on your delegation skills.

Your initial reaction may be to defend yourself and get angry.

However, these emotions tend to blind us from the positive things people have said, and the fact that this isn’t a personal attack, but rather an opportunity to improve.

So, instead of letting your emotions overwhelm you, maybe consider trying to follow these three steps:

• Pause
  Wait a few seconds and let any potential negative emotions diffuse.
  
  
• Ask Questions
  Get more detail about what the issue is, and how they believe you can improve and work on this area of your work.
  
  
• Analyse Patterns
  Consider whether anyone else has said this to you before. If so, it’s likely that it’s a very valid suggestion and should be acted upon.
  
  
• Act
  Once you have calmly processed and analysed the feedback, decide what you will do to improve.

3 Quotes to Challenge the Way We See Feedback

• “Feedback is the breakfast of champions”  Ken Blanchard
  
  
• “We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.” Bill Gates
  
  
• “It takes humility to seek feedback. It takes wisdom to understand it, analyse it and appropriately act on it” Stephen Covey