It is a necessity for every professional to receive feedback to improve themselves. Feedback can be an integral part of career development because it provides an opportunity for you to stay on track with achieving your goals. It can also enable you to understand the skills required in the industry and what is expected of you as a professional.
Here are some guidelines to help you receive feedback:
- You have to be open to receiving feedback.
- Be ready to listen with an open mind and do not get defensive if the person is giving you negative feedback.
- Practice self-reflection. Look at yourself objectively by analyzing a situation from different perspectives.
- Reflect on your reaction after receiving the feedback and ensure that you are not too sensitive to it. Try not to be overly critical of yourself for coming short in some cases, as everyone has downfalls before they can fully develop.
- Find an appropriate time to discuss with the person providing you feedback and ensure that it is a suitable setting so that they are in the right frame of mind to give you constructive criticism. However, do not wait for too long before doing this as the person may forget what points they wanted to raise, or you may no longer be interested in what they have to say.
- Be empathetic. It is important to be open-minded and try not to get overly defensive or offended by any of the comments the feedback-giver makes. Find a way to show your gratitude for their honesty.
The tips provided in this article should help you get a much better idea of how to behave when receiving professional feedback. Remember, it is not always easy for the person providing feedback to give an unbiased opinion about your work. However, suppose you can take constructive criticism with an open mind and use it as motivation for how you would like to improve yourself professionally. In that case, there’s no reason why these comments shouldn’t be helpful in some way. If all else fails, remember that you are never too old to learn something new. Keep practicing self-reflection skills so you do not overreact whenever someone points out one of your flaws.