How to accept criticism, the rude and polite ways
Well, many articles about this. Mostly they are about how to accept it, the constructive and destructive ways. But that’s not the only way how critique is delivered. There are a few more indicators that we need to consider before we accept it. As humans are complex, so their act and thinking. Not just black and white, right and wrong, good and bad. There are more things behind it. Always.
The designer is a profession that is fragile and full of criticism. Whether at work from peers, bosses, and outsiders such as competitors, customers/users even those who have nothing to do with the outcome of your work.
I found that communication skills can affect how we deliver critique. I agree, I often say that language intelligence might affect the way we critique others. But that doesn’t mean we have the right to be arrogant both as the critic and the receiver. I also keep learning how to do it right in my design classes to my students and or as the receiver as well.
I want to tell you about one example. There was a case in my daily life last week. When I used an app to order items on the minimarket, the online motorbike driver suggested to me to not be in a rush to report the driver by giving them bad ratings if some items from the minimarket have been left behind in store because it’s the minimarket accountable and fault, he said. On the other side, the application gives me a choice to report a driver by choosing one of the reasons, ‘The items are not complete’ so I thought it was normal to report it. After I chose it, I just remembered and realised that I was still able to chat with the driver for a few hours, so I asked for the item to the driver. The driver complied but then he was a bit shocked that I gave him bad ratings (I reported him before I knew I could chat) and he suggested to me to not do it again in the future. Fortunately, he did it politely although a bit disappointed to me.
Although I felt anxious about it and thought that the application should direct me as a user to the chat feature if the reason was ’The item is not complete’ instead of putting it as one of the reasons for the bad ratings, I feel bad for him. Despite the technical and bad flow of the app, I shouldn’t have reported him first in a rush as a human, not as a user. I apologized to him and gave him the tip because the application could not take the rating back or do something positive about it after I asked for help from the call centre to make sure that there would be no negative impact on the driver. As a user, there is nothing I can do here. But as humans, we can give him something outside the flow.
Here’s what I’m trying to arrange about the depiction of how we can accept the criticism, feedback and suggestions in our life.
So it’s not just how bad and destructive or polite and constructive it is. Also as the receiver, we need to analyze the criticism itself. Are they purely criticising our works and not personally attacking us in the beginning? despite how bad and polite it is.
Do they know us personally or are they just strangers or co-workers with bad characters but nothing personal problem with us?
If they are strangers, do they know us online and offline? if so, are they envious of us? or are they just purely random strangers who are also our customers/users?
Despite good and bad, right and wrong or in between, the attitude still comes first. Have you had the experience of accepting criticism? or have you ever given criticism?
Article Recommendations about this topic:
- https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-deal-with-critics
- https://www.leadersinstitute.com/the-difference-between-constructive-and-destructive-criticism/
- https://www.startquestion.com/blog/7-reasons-why-customer-feedback-is-important-to-your-business/
- https://asana.com/resources/constructive-criticism
