What's your strategy for dealing with negative work reviews?

A lot of people would say, don't express, keep it professional. But there are so many ways to express and communicate your hurt. After all, it's being human and no one likes to hear harsh words about their work. I would recommend, breathe in, breathe out, process that it happened. Take like 30 minutes and then gather yourself together and ask for a meeting to understand what went wrong. This will give you pointers to understand where you lag and what needs improvement. After that, take some time off from work and think about these points discussed and prepare a plan.

If you are receiving a negative work review you should challenge it for three reasons. 1) You can be negatively impacted by a situation that happened months ago, and your manager has decided to bring it up now (instead of solving it properly at the time) 2) Context. Sometimes mistakes need more context. Why are you getting negative feedback on what actually happened? Things happen, and it's not always your fault that you were the last person to catch the ball. And 3) Recollections may differ! And if that is the situation go to HR and get your review amended. This is a record of your performance, so don't treat it lightly. Challenge it and do better next time around.

From the beginning, Managers must be upfront, giving input (feedback) upon hire and carry it throughout the Employees' tenure. Truthfully, it's hard to accept negative feedback on performance reviews if an Employee doesn't trust that their Manager has a good intention to not only make you aware of weak points but also applaud you for your strong points. Managers must present negative feedback, from a positive perspective, thus offering measuring ways to improve work performance. The delivery is everything; if their tone and body language, both spoken and unspoken must be in a showing signs of positivity while introducing negative aspects. Managers' stance must be nonjudgemental, offering a perspective that helps Employees pivot.

We naturally feel defensive and offended when we are criticized, especially at work. When you receive the negative work review, what is the first thing you do? For me I must take a deep breath and walk away. Literally get up, and take steps away from the desk, or the person. We are all somewhat conditioned to react based on our culture, mine is to become angry and start shouting. And of course this is not acceptable! So while pacing, I use a Dr Ramani [US clinical psychologist] technique - 'Go DEEP'. Don't defend, Don't Engage, Don't explain, Don't personalize. I use it on myself to calm down, and step back before I say or do or think anything. Let the emotional energy response flow through you and out again.

No one likes hearing negative things about how they work. The best thing to do is take a breath, hear the person giving the information out, and keep in mind they are not trying to personally attack you. What they really want is for you to be the best you can be, show off your talents and shine on your own way.

Active listening and responding in an empathetic way is crucial to understand the feedback received. Firstly, you can thank the feedback provider for his/her time and effort, next read or listen to their feedback to know their concerns, its like putting yourself in their shoes! If the feedback is a bit unclear, request more details. By doing this, you are demonstrating a commitment to addressing the concerns in the feedback and are genuinely connecting on a human level.

I've had performance reviews that were done by HR rather than direct management. I found it difficult to focus on said areas of improvement. How can the Reviewer who hasn't been an integral part in your development speak for your Manager? A feedback downfall. Pulling out exactly what's needed to improve is essential for further professional and personal development. Feedback should feel authentic with good intention. Have you ever questioned their intentions due to their lack of participation in your growth and development? Have they avoided setting expectations or clarifying them. Can they accurately measure performance if they're not active in setting grounds? How do you overcome this? Focus on your part. Ask more questions. Follow-up.

Understanding and evaluating the feedback. Once you are clear-headed, look at it with a cool eye. I use an adapted version of the '4 Ds of time management: Do, Delay, Delegate, Drop'. If it is unfounded, non-factual, nonsensical then drop it and move on. Delegate is if I need to bring a colleague in on it, for whatever reason. Delay and Do are when the feedback requires my response. If there are valid points, this is a time to show up, to rise to the challenge of taking responsibility. The response should always come from a clear analysis of what I could have done better, what I'd do differently, what I learned, and how to improve my work based on the new input. We all know that every challenge is a chance for change and growth.

Try not to be verbally-aggressive with the person giving the feedback. If you are unsure what something is or what they are referencing-- ASK! Make sure you are both clear on what the feedback is saying.

Know your job duties; this may require accessing the original job description. Then you can take the review critiques and measure them against your performance. Managers should create a safe space. Object respectfully. Pose questions that are aimed at making the Manager aware that you're invested in your professional development. Ask for ways to improve and ask for clarification. Don't wear your feelings on your shoulders but focus on the metrics. There may be times that you oppose the feedback. Do it respectfully but come with examples that prove your performance. Come to the meeting with your own goals that would help you do improve. Are you disagreeing to the feedback because of your own avoidance to improve?

The way you respond is key! As aforementioned, a Manager's body language should be warm and inviting, so should yours. Approach the conversation with a healthy outlook, believing that the review is an essential part in growing, promoting within the company. Own your inconsistencies and ask questions. Ask questions. Don't be quick to object, but be quick to pay attention to their feedback. Bring your perspectives and challenge, respectfully. Overall, what's on paper, sticks. In other words, it's important that your Manager understands your good intentions and that you're willing to take a proactive approach, from this time forth, as opposed to having these same negative feedback in the next review. Make sure the expectations are set.

Responding to negative criticism as said above, for me should come from a calm space, where I can see a top-down picture. After formulating my own response, to myself, to the negative feedback, then I am ready to reply externally to others. People know instinctively when you are genuine and authentic, it can be easily detected even in writing. Therefore, once I know what the value of the feedback is for me, the response comes fairly naturally. Of course how it is received is out of my control, we can't please all of the people all of the time. What seems to me to matter most about the response to the feedback is your attitude to it. Show up, be honest, and try to do better/differently next time.

Even if you are unsure at the time how you immediately plan to resolve or face this feedback, acknowledge the person giving the feedback-- thank them for the information, for the time they may have taken to answer your questions. Be honest if you have a plan to resolve the feedback or mention you will take some time to examine how you can improve. Let them know you will work on improving what the feedback highlights.

Ask the Manager/Reviewer for tools that can help you improve. Maybe your company offers free courses or will pay for events that would help you meet and even exceed expectations. Moving forward, ask for one-on-ones throughout the year, consistently. Make sure the expectations are clear. Let the Manager know when something is unclear. Do things in your personal time that will help you improve at work, being that we are usually spending more time at work than home. Understand that most times, your professional and personal life overlaps. Work on it; don't settle for meeting minimal requirements. Show the Manager that you're invested. Let them know your plans of promotion or lateral moves. Offer suggestions to help you achieve that goal.

Here are some questions I find helpful to ask people you trust consistently to get feedback: - What am I doing well? What’s working? - What’s one thing I could do differently to be more effective? - What qualities do I show up with when I’m being most effective as a team member? - What qualities do I show up with when I’m being least effective as a team member? Be willing to hear people out but always get a second opinion from someone you respect and admire if a piece of feedback doesn’t sit right with you.

Negative feedback hurts big time! Its even worst when it comes from a not-so-good client. My advice: ??Move on: Don't get stuck there. You have to move on. ??Look beyond the negative feedback: Instead of feeling sober or discouraged because of the feedback received, you can look beyond it and look for ways to improve. ??Improve: Work on those pitfalls and get better as time goes by. Improve, improve, improve. Give yourself time and with determination, hardwork and patience, you will be successful. ??Wow future clients beyond expectations: As you get better with your skills, wow future clients by delivering beyond expectations. Give them a trillion reasons why you should be recommended for more tasks ahead of your contemporaries.

If everyone is saying you are amazing and doing a great job, and you go into that zone where you think you know it all and are brilliant, soon for sure the fall will come. If you beat yourself up, and you think or people tell you that you are bad at your job, then your own unique skills are not being allowed to shine, which is miserable. The path is in the middle. If you are doing a job you love, that you have drive and passion for, of course there will be ups and downs. Times you want to quit and times you feel invincible. Negative or positive feedback, will come at you when you least expect it. But if your bank of positive feedback is pretty full up, then a withdrawal by the negative ones will hardly affect the balance.