How to take feedback positively – We suggest a few ways managers can use, for those employees who are not good at taking negative feedback positively.
A constructive feedback from a superior at work, is an essential management tool in any organization.
Most employees are aware of that, and hence understand why constructive criticism is important.
However, not all the members of your team perfect the art of acknowledging constructive feedback.
Effective and timely feedback is a critical component of a successful performance management program and should be used in conjunction with setting performance goals.
We suggest a few ways managers can use, for those employees who are not good at taking negative feedback positively.
Emotional reaction
An employee who does not take it normally when told that what he/she did was wrong, needs to be taken care of professionally. There’s no moment as awkward as having an employee all in tears in your cabin. So the first thing you should do is to assess whether the reaction you received is usual or something that’s unheard of. If an employee regularly loses control of his/her emotions, you need to address the issue as something, though he/she is good at, yet needs improvement.
Resistance to criticism
Not all employees receive positive feedback all the time. Though experienced professionals are well aware about it, there’s always that fellow on the team who when confronted with a suggestion, tries to explain why did he/she act authoritatively. Quite often you get to hear, “I don’t think what I did was unasked for.” The best way to handle such a team member, is by acknowledging his/her action and explaining how is it different from what policies does the organization follow.
Seldom there’s something as challenging as dealing with a sub-ordinate who gets defensive with anything-related you point at. Schedule a meeting to talk to such an employee, to tell him/her that though the method sounds totally effective, why can it not be implemented.
Acting in a loop
How do you feel when people keep repeating the same mistake, even after you having brought it to their notice a number of times? The problem is worse, when the person is an employee who reports to you. They won’t cry or deny their mistake, but will act the way you want them to while in the meeting, and continue doing the same. To make your feedback effective in such cases, make sure you’re giving a crystal clear feedback that includes examples and action steps that needs to be included in his/her way of working. Also, produce a timeline of errors you encountered with his/her way of working in the past.
Feedback is one of the important components of a successful organization. Effective feedback has benefits for the giver, the receiver, and the organization in total.
