And what, I hear you groan from the back row, am I back to do? What great grandiosely grating revelation have I returned to share with you all? I don't know, I'm just some windbag from the Internet. What do you want from me, A poem?
Seriously though, I've decided, in response to Calamareyes post on how NOT to take constructive criticism, to illuminate you, my oh so attentive audience, with how TO take constructive criticism! How wondrously predictable of me! But that's enough meandering on my part; To business!
Paging Dr. (_____): How To deal with constructive Criticism.
Ah everyone's a critic, sad but true. So sad in fact that I'd like to pause a moment and pass out the tissues for a good cry. Alright, that's enough of that, cut it out. Despite how hard it may be to bear, the only real solution to criticism is to learn how to benefit from it. The alternative is to avoid meaningful interaction with people. Say nothing, hear nothing, do nothing, BECOME nothing and no-one.
Obviously the former solution is preferable to the later one.
The first and most important part to taking criticism and turning it to your own benefit is to embrace the philosophy that you can do whatever you are doing better than you're doing it now. You might not know how, or when you could possibly improve. The opportunity to improve might not ever come, But so long as you do not close yourself to the idea, you will always be in the position to seize upon it. And this will be to your gain.
I will be honest, and admit that this is harder than it sounds. It's very tempting to reach a certain level of competence, to rise just above "good enough" and leave it at that. That's because its the easy way out, and it's very feel good. However, similar to my little "do nothing, be nothing" statement above, If you are content with being "good enough" you are very unlikely to ever be great.
Which brings us to the other part on making use of criticism, which is interpreting it.
First off, make the distinction between criticism directed at you, and criticism directed at your work. Someone can think your an awful person, but your work is incredible, and will criticise you accordingly, or vice versa. Just because someone is criticising your work does not necessarily mean they're criticising you, and just because someone is criticising you personally does not mean they're criticising your work.
Second, your critics are basing what they say upon what they perceive about your work/way of doing things. This does NOT mean that all problems are merely in their heads and have nothing to do with what you've done. If you are tempted to make that assumption stop right now, or you'll never be able to make use of other peoples point of view. So long as they express their issues with what you've done in a reasonable manner (see my articles on giving criticism) you have no reason to outright ignore them.
Third, think of your work/way of doing things in terms of positives and negatives. You want people to notice what is good, without focusing on what is bad. The only way to do that is to not give people negative things to focus on. Say you create a website, but people complain that there is too much clutter, and that its a hassle to navigate to where they want to go. They cannot fully enjoy the positive aspects of the site because the negative aspects interfere. The solution is simple: If people complain that it is broken, fix it.
Which is the best way to use criticism, to find out where the problems are and fix them, thereby improving your work. The very best critics will even tell you how to fix the problem even as they inform you of its existence. You will have to exercise your own judgement of course, but always keep in mind that if a person feels the need to speak up, you should listen, and if they can express their point well you should consider taking their advice, especially if they have expertise on the subject. Ignore the abuse, but listen to those who would be helpful.
And that concludes my little article on how to deal with constructive criticism, which I shall now end with a favourite quote of mine (a rather cliché way to close out I know, but I solemnly promise not to get into the habit of doing it.)
I think its a very sensible article with sound advice. Certainly nowhere near as wordy as my articles on the subject. Though I would like politely state that in my experience the "PNP sandwich" doesn't always work.
ReplyDeleteThat is to say that there is a fair chance that anything positive will be ignored due to outrage, or perhaps a persons natural tendency to focus on the negative. Another possibility being that the person your criticising will attempt to use any positive statements as a means of weaselling around matters, and clouding issues.
I agree that the principle is sound, but that in execution its success is widely variable on a case by case basis. Then again, I'm not always fortunate enough to be dealing with reasonable people, so my experience may be a bit biased.