Graciously Accepting Advice

As a follow up to last week’s post on not giving unsolicited advice, here are some tips to graciously accepting advice. We need to be able to accept feedback to grow. If you’ve recently received unpleasant feedback, try to remember these points.

First of all, consider how courageous they are being. 

Unless the person giving you feedback is an absolute jerk with no regard for the relationship, giving you advice or feedback is risky. They are risking their comfort and investing time in you so that you can improve. In essence, they care more about your success than their momentary unpleasant feelings. Try to see this in a more flattering light. They think you are worth their investment.

Back when I played football, I knew that a coach yelling at me was a good thing. I understood that he was honing my potential. If he didn’t yell at me, that meant he didn’t think I could improve. In business, we hopefully don’t yell at each other, but the premise is the same.

Do take it personally. 

That’s right; I said, do take it personally, but with a positive spin. Think about the concept of being the strongest link in the chain and take personal responsibility to improve. This is easier done when you fully understand the first concept of how much value you have. For example, a colleague advises you to stop asking questions during sales meetings. You can negatively hear that, or you can consider his point of view and clarify.

De-construct the advice or criticism by clarifying. 

In the example above, you may ask the colleague what details about your questions are a problem. You may learn that you are asking questions that you should research before the meetings. You may learn that your questions are too verbose and need to be more focused. Try to understand fully how you can improve and take responsibility to work in that area.

Finally, try to remember that the best way to achieve a common goal is together. Pulling in the same direction will get you there faster. There is a wonderful proverb that says,

“Where there is no guidance the people fall, but in abundance of counselors there is victory.”

So try to be thankful for the advice, even when you don’t really want it.

Like the inside of my mind? Follow me for future blurbs of encouragement and wisdom learned the hard way.

You can find more valuable content at RELOAD Daily

--

Troy is an expert business strategist who specializes in employee engagement. He is Senior Consultant of enterprise technology solutions and new client acquisition at Businessolver, the leader in technology-based empathy research and innovation. Troy is also an outspoken advocate in the fight against domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST). He founded The Mission Haven, and with his wife, Hilda is building the largest care community for child survivors of DMST. They have a son in college, a dog, and three cats.  

You can connect with him directly or reach him via email: [email protected]