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Critical Faculties: Handling Criticism Right

Criticism can be experienced actively (someone criticising), or passively (someone is criticised). The ability to handle criticism appropriately is essential, otherwise insult and psychic damage can occur leading to the breaking of relationships, mobbing, depression or dismissal.

Critical faculties comprise

• Independent judging
• Pointing out defects to others and spelling them out intelligible
• Receiving and reflecting upon criticism, and possibly using it for a positive change of one’s behaviour

Particularly for teams, projects and in leadership, handling criticism is crucial. Only when the criticized can assess criticism and their own behaviour in a fair way, they can translate them into new ways of behaviour. Therefore, criticism and arguing belong together.

For the one criticizing

• Set the topic for a critical talk
• Create a quiet location for the talk and agree a time frame that everyone is fine with
• Enter the talk relaxed
• Have the different perspectives pointed out
• Be understanding towards the others’ backgrounds
• Record results
• Do not react spontaneously and emotionally
• Explain why you criticize, what you dislike and how you conceive the behaviour you are criticizing
• Use criticizing in your leadership of employees
• Criticize constructively and situation-related. Otherwise you risk perturbing the relationship with the criticized
• Sweep nothing under the carpet
• Have evidence for your reproaches
• Give suggestions what right behaviour might be in the respective situation
• Keep confidential, that is never utter criticism in front of others who are not concerned
• As a boss, you can make objective agreements with your employee
• Subsequent to a critical talk, report when you notice improvement
• Uttering critique should not intend making the other one angry but motivating him/her positively to change his/her behaviour

For the one criticized

• Listen actively
• Take notes
• Be self-critical and think about whether the criticized behaviour would not annoy you equally on someone else
• Ask for support
• Remain objective and calm
• Show that you are open to criticism
• Ask and sort out what in particular is disliked and why
• If the talk gets emotional, better adjourn it
• Put expectations of the criticizing into concrete terms and agree on talking again about interim results