Taking criticism with elegance and grace can sometimes be a difficult task. The trick is to understand that constructive criticism is about evaluating something, like a project, presentation, or article, in order make it the best that it can be. And yet, determining what actually makes criticism constructive is all about the delivery of the critic. There are very distinct differences between constructive commentary and hurtful opinions. If you need an example, just watch The Devil Wears Prada and you’ll be able to pick up on what constitutes as hateful and unprofessional criticism. I have grown so much over the course of my internship because I have learned from my mistakes. So take a step back, try not to freak out, and if you follow these steps you might find that constructive criticism can actually be very beneficial!
Accept that you are not perfect.
I remember the first week of my internship, I was so concerned with being perfect and completing every task to a tee, that I actually started to make careless mistakes. Remembering to copy my boss on all of my emails, I was mortified when she pointed out that I had sent three emails to a variety of academic deans and directors with the word “addition” when it should have been “edition”. Instead of having a mental breakdown and dying of embarrassment, I thanked her for pointing out my mistake and made sure to not make the same mistake twice.
An avid perfectionist myself, I cringe at the thought of messing up But at the end of the day, I have to remind myself that nobody is perfect… except for Kate Middleton (although I’d like to believe she has flaws). When it comes to criticism, we tend to be our biggest critics. It’s okay to let go a little and not worry so much about being perfect because everyone makes mistakes, and hey- you never know what you might learn!
Triple-check your work.
If you’re worried about being perfect, the easiest way to avoid making silly mistakes is to proofread… and proofread… and proofread. I tend to think faster than I can type, so I always make sure to go back and read over what I write helping me catch minor errors. Reading your article out loud is also a great way to make sure it follows a steady stream of thought and sounds conversational. Your boss is sure to notice if you take the extra time to review your work before you submit it. I’ve found that checking over my work several times before I give it to my boss allows for the overall editing process to be faster and much smoother. We don’t have to spend so much time fixing little mistakes, and can focus making sure the overall article is written well.
Don’t take it personally.
While it can be difficult to have your fellow co-workers and supervisors review your work, it’s important not to take their criticism personally. The whole point of examining your work is to make sure that you’re able to do the best work possible. Working in the editorial world, my articles go through many four or five phases of editing before we send anything to the printers.
In my office, we’ve been working diligently on our annual calendar for the past two months, and I cannot even begin to count how many revisions the calendar has gone through! So many times I would get discouraged when we would receive a copy from our editor covered in what seemed like judgmental red marks. In reality, those evil little red marks were there to help us improve to quality of our work.
Evaluate what you learn.
The whole point of constructive criticism is to learn from your mistakes. Instead of getting angry and upset, think about what you can take away for your experience. In my particular internship, my office is very concerned with working together as a team. Sometimes this means that we have to help each other when we notice a mistake.
Today I accidentally wrote the wrong name in an email that I sent to four different people. One of the women that received the email came into my office and kindly pointed out my mistake. I apologized, we laughed about it, and it took me a few seconds to fix a simple problem.
No matter what you position or what industry your working in, I encourage you to listen to the advice and suggestions your co-workers give you. By keeping and open mind, endless opportunities and doors can be open to you!