We all know that criticism can be useful for personal and professional growth. No matter how many times we contemplate this fact, but the majority, including me, accept it painfully. This is because it usually hurts our self-esteem, the most tender and dear thing.
What I’ve noticed is that critics don’t always express their comments smartly “so as not to hurt.” Some even poke their noses into the other’s affairs, and many critics even like it. As a consequence, instead of listening to what was said and make some conclusions, you fiercely defend the sacred — yourself.
Criticism is inevitable at work, but in this case, you should work both on the process of taking criticism and on expressing negative feedback to your colleagues. To avoid aggression, please see below some tips on how to cope with criticism about your work.
1) Identify the source of criticism
You may receive criticism from unknown or anonymous person on the Internet, or from more experienced colleague at work. Therefore, you should clearly distinguish whose criticism will be useful, and whose can harm you and your work.
The best thing is to have a person among your contacts, who you trust and can ask for advice and suggestions. Such mentoring will be much more beneficial and bring a positive result.
2) Look at criticism without prejudice
There are mistakes that should be noted: this is about business logic, structure, patterns. And there is something that one dev can improve, but the other one can leave as it is. Each programmer has his own style, and if mistakes have a “stylistic nature”, you can easily disregard them. Sometimes there is no right and wrong thing, but there is something that you like or not. Take criticism to the point. Let the person tell you what he dislikes, why, and how he can change the thing that already exists.
3) Some people are quite emotional
If you identify yourself as one of those, you should learn not to absorb the negativity and not take everything to heart. Don’t concentrate on the emotional presentation, but on the possibilities for your improvement.
4) Say thank you
Be grateful to the critics, because they demonstrate your weak points from the outside, and you will just have to correct them. But then again, this is about constructive criticism. However, the fact that your work attracted somebody’s attention is already a good sign. Use it and enjoy it as much as possible.
5) Don’t be afraid to ask to repeat
If you still have some disturbing doubts after being criticized, do not be afraid to ask to repeat, clarify and think it through. That will show your interest in and dedication to the process, and also that you care about the feedback.
I would like to remind that feedbacks can also be positive. Ask the team lead about your success and strong points. May someone think that you are seeking for praise, but you also need to know your strengths. You may notice something that others do not see, or your ideas make all the team members think over them.
Just remember:
“Nobody builds their careers just being praised,” Deb Bright says. Frankly, if you haven’t heard constructive criticism for a long time, that means that your growth stopped.”
What do you think about it? How often do you hear critics and what kind of reaction it causes?