PE: Dealing with a negative feedback

"To escape criticism - do nothing, say nothing, be nothing."

Elbert Hubbard

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Everyone wants to be praised for their work. It's the extremely rare individual who creates things and doesn't care how they're received. Dealing with criticism can be painful, but at the same time enormously helpful.

Let's begin with understanding the function that positive and negative feedback serve. Positive feedback (pointing out things you did WELL) increases commitment to the work you do, by enhancing your experience and your confidence, white Negative feedback (pointing out things you did WRONG), on the other hand, is informative - it tells you where you need to spend your effort, and offers insight into how you might improve.

With that being said, positive and negative feedback are affective and motivate differently, their impact varies from different people at different times. For instance, when you really don't know what you're doing, positive feedback helps you to stay optimistic and feel more at ease with the challenges you are facing - something novices tend to need. But when you are an expert, and you already more-less know what you are doing, it's negative feedback that can help you to do what it takes to get to the top of your game.

Of course, negative feedback should always be accompanied by good advice and given with tact. Starting artists may even give up their art entirely based on too much harsh criticism. But making someone give up their work isn't what criticism is about.

In reality, many people don't understand the difference between criticism of a work of art and criticism of a person, and that's people on both sides of the issue, artists getting offended by legitimate criticism of something they've created, critics crossing the line and criticizing the artist rather than the art.

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How to process the feedback, than?

LISTEN

Be attentive and listen carefully, this communicates that you value the feedback and ensures you understand the feedback provided.

RECEIVE

It is a natural reaction to push back on negative feedback and start preparing a rebuttal. Don't. If you're planning a rebuttal, you're not really being attentive and listening carefully.

EXPRESS GRATITUDE

Providing feedback takes efforts and carries a level of risk. Thank everyone who took the time to provide you with feedback.

ACT

Ignoring feedback wastes time - yours and time of those that provided you with it. Take appropriate actions on the feedback, as soon as possible.

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"I read an article on me once that described my machine-method of silk-screen copying and painting: 'What a bold and audacious solution, what depths of the man are revealed in this solution!' What does that mean?"

Andy Warhol

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