experiencelifemag.com Print › | Back › On-the-Job Criticism Acknowledging that we have something to learn can be downright painful. This is particularly true at work, where many of us pride ourselves in our competence and professional mastery. By Elizabeth Larsen March 2006 “For many of us, our jobs are our identities, and it can be difficult to separate what’s being said about us from who we actually are as a person,” says Dennis Reina, coauthor of Trust and Betrayal in the Workplace: Building Effective Relationships in Your Organization (Berrett-Koehler, 1999). Putting yourself in a questioning mindset is particularly important for formal performance reviews. In fact, it’s wise to prepare for professional reviews by asking yourself, honestly, what kinds of criticisms or suggestions you’re most likely to hear. According to Barbara Hoese, the president of The Inventure Group, a Minneapolis-based workplace consulting firm with Fortune 500 clients, healthy workplaces create systems where employees are keenly aware of the issues to be addressed in a review before it happens. “When people get defensive, it’s usually because they are surprised by what they are being told,” Hoese asserts. You can minimize such surprises by doing a self-review — not just of your performance results since your last review, but also of your workplace attitudes, and your ability to manage relationships with others. Keep in mind that you’re not trying to rip yourself apart at the seams, but nor are you trying to build a case for your infallibility. Rather, you’re attempting to learn how you can advance in your job. Being able to pinpoint your own areas of strengths and weaknesses ahead of time will not only tell your supervisor that you’re committed to continuous improvement, it also increases the likelihood that you’ll get any additional training or support you might need to achieve your ultimate career goals.

On-the-Job Criticism

Acknowledging that we have something to learn can be downright painful. This is particularly true at work, where many of us pride ourselves in our competence and professional mastery.

“For many of us, our jobs are our identities, and it can be difficult to separate what’s being said about us from who we actually are as a person,” says Dennis Reina, coauthor of Trust and Betrayal in the Workplace: Building Effective Relationships in Your Organization (Berrett-Koehler, 1999).

Putting yourself in a questioning mindset is particularly important for formal performance reviews. In fact, it’s wise to prepare for professional reviews by asking yourself, honestly, what kinds of criticisms or suggestions you’re most likely to hear. According to Barbara Hoese, the president of The Inventure Group, a Minneapolis-based workplace consulting firm with Fortune 500 clients, healthy workplaces create systems where employees are keenly aware of the issues to be addressed in a review before it happens.

“When people get defensive, it’s usually because they are surprised by what they are being told,” Hoese asserts. You can minimize such surprises by doing a self-review — not just of your performance results since your last review, but also of your workplace attitudes, and your ability to manage relationships with others.

Keep in mind that you’re not trying to rip yourself apart at the seams, but nor are you trying to build a case for your infallibility. Rather, you’re attempting to learn how you can advance in your job. Being able to pinpoint your own areas of strengths and weaknesses ahead of time will not only tell your supervisor that you’re committed to continuous improvement, it also increases the likelihood that you’ll get any additional training or support you might need to achieve your ultimate career goals.

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