How Do You Handle Criticism At Work?
"How do you handle criticism at work?". A tough question, yet the most important if you want to get better performance by discerning the correct criticism that can help improve yourself.
Receiving negative feedback can be uncomfortable and, at times, discouraging. If you are not aware of it, it can undermine your confidence, motivation, and work relationships.
Do you take every criticism as an attack or see it as an opportunity to work? In this guide, I'll share with you actionable tips to handle criticism at work so you can strengthen your skills and earn the respect of your peers and leaders.
How Do You Handle Criticism At Work?
1. Understand the Intent Behind the Criticism
Not all criticism is meant to bring you down. Some feedback can be constructive, highlighting areas for improvement and offering insights and suggestions to help you grow. Other times, criticism may be vague, unfair, or even personal.
Differentiating between helpful feedback and unproductive criticism can help you respond appropriately.
There are different types of criticism in the workplace; Knowing and being aware of them helps you discern what type of criticism you are (and will be) receiving.
1. Constructive Criticism – This type of feedback is aimed at improvement. It often includes specific points and suggestions for how to do better.
Example of constructive criticism: "Your report had valuable insights, but adding more supporting data would make it stronger.
2. Destructive Criticism – This feedback is often vague, harsh, or personal. It may be driven by frustration, bias, or office politics rather than a genuine attempt to help.
Example of destructive criticism: "Your report was terrible. I don’t know what you were thinking.
3. Misguided Criticism – Sometimes, feedback comes from someone who may not fully understand your work or situation. They may have good intentions but lack the knowledge to provide helpful input.
Example of misguided criticism: A colleague from another department critiques your work without understanding your role.
It's tempting to react without determining the type of criticism and how to respond appropriately. Remember that a proper response is better than just reacting.
Here are essential questions to ask yourself to respond appropriately to criticisms:
- Is this feedback meant to help me improve? If the criticism includes suggestions for better results, it is likely constructive.
- Does it come from a trusted or knowledgeable source? Feedback from an experienced boss or mentor carries more weight than a comment from an uninformed colleague.
- Is it specific and actionable? Generalized statements like "You need to improve your communication skills" are less valuable than "You should provide clearer meeting updates to avoid misunderstandings."
If the feedback meets these criteria, it's worth considering and acting upon. If it's vague, overly negative, or descriptive (at some point) or feels very personal, you may need to address it differently—either by asking for clarification, discussing it with a trusted colleague, or, if necessary, disregarding unhelpful comments.
Understanding the intent behind every criticism allows you to be more self-aware and focus on what truly matters—your growth and professional development—without letting unproductive negativity affect your confidence.
2. Control Your Immediate Reaction
Your first, immediate response to criticism matters. It tells whether or not you're into receiving feedback—especially for unexpected or negative criticism. Feeling discouraged, defensive, embarrassed, or even angry is natural.
However, reacting emotionally without assessing the situation will only worsen things, damage relationships, and negatively affect one's professional reputation.
Here are a couple of tips to stay in control when receiving criticism:
- Pause before reacting. Take a deep breath and remain calm. If the feedback is given in words, maintain neutral body language (avoid crossing your arms or acting defensive in your facial expressions). If the input is written (e.g., email or chat), resist the urge to reply immediately.
- Listen actively. Focus on the words being said rather than how they make you feel.
- Avoid interrupting, jumping to conclusions, or immediately justifying your actions. Let the other person finish speaking before you respond.
- Ask for clarification if needed. Calmly ask for specifics (e.g, “I appreciate your input. Can you give me a specific example so I can better understand what needs improvement?”).
- Avoid sighing, eye-rolling, or using sarcastic tones.
- Respond thoughtfully and honestly. If you need time to process the criticism, say, “I appreciate the feedback. Let me take some time to reflect on this and get back to you.”
Here's the difference between good and bad reactions.
✅ Good Reaction:
Manager: “Your presentation was a bit unclear. You might need to organize your points more logically.”
You: “Thank you for the feedback. Do you have any suggestions on how I can improve clarity next time?”
❌ Bad Reaction:
Manager: “Your presentation was a bit unclear. You might need to organize your points more logically.”
You: “Well, I was under a time crunch, and no one told me the structure needed to be different.” (Defensive response)
3. Separate Your Work from Your Worth
There's a high temptation to take every criticism attached to your value. Even minor critiques can make you feel like less of a person. When that happens, avoid the urge to see your self-worth from your work.
Everyone has areas to improve; growth can only happen through all this learning and constructive feedback.
Work is part of life but not your entire identity.
This one piece of advice can change how you view work and self-worth.
Here are a couple of ways to reframe negative feedback:
💭 Instead of thinking, “I’m terrible at writing reports.
✅ Think: “I need to focus on adding more details to my reports. I can improve this.”
💭 Instead of thinking, “My manager thinks I’m not a good team player,”
✅ Think: “I need to work on collaborating better and communicating my ideas more effectively.”
💭 Instead of thinking, “I always get negative feedback. Maybe I’m not cut out for this job.”
✅ Think: “Feedback is part of growth. If I apply the suggestions, I’ll get better over time.”
4. Seek Clarification and Ask for Solutions
One common mistake when handling criticism at work is to immediately take action after receiving criticism without clarifying the other person's statements.
If the feedback is unclear, it is difficult to determine what needs improvement. You may guess or assume the upgrades will not be made.
Here are some ways to ask for clarification effectively:
- "Can you specify what part needs improvement?" —narrows down the issue.
- "What would make my work meet expectations?" —encourages constructive suggestions.
- "Could you provide an example of what you’re looking for?"—gives you a clearer benchmark.
- "Are there resources or best practices I can refer to?"—helps you find ways to enhance your skills.
5. Apply the Feedback and Show Improvement
The meat part of handling criticisms at work is applying any improvement, insight, and wisdom you've found or gained from the criticism.
Implementing the right kind of improvement helps you upskill and appreciate your peer or the other person who gave you feedback for making an effort to tell you what could improve your work or yourself.
Here are tips to apply the feedback effectively:
- Create specific action plans to implement the feedback. Write down what you think would help improve your task, work, or yourself (personal growth).
- Seek additional guidance. If you're unsure how to improve, ask for best practices, templates, or corporate training opportunities.
- Hire a coach or mentor. If your business is a venture, hire a business consultant to seek an external audience.
- As an employee, you can acquire more skills through soft skills training (e.g., leadership, communication, problem-solving, and decision-making, etc..).
- Track your progress. Note how you apply feedback insights and measure your improvements (simply write them down).
- After making changes, follow up. Check in with the person who gave you the feedback.
That's it. If you want to handle criticism at work, follow the actionable strategies mentioned above, and you will improve your work and life.
Need corporate training for your employees or business consulting to scale your business? Contact us today.
What Kind Of Workplace Do You Prefer?
"What kind of workplace do you prefer?" This is the question you would typically ask if you're looking for the right work environment or a job seeker preparing for an interview.
Either way, understanding your ideal workplace helps you manage expectations, adjust to the reality of today's workplace, thrive, stay engaged, and enjoy more long-term job satisfaction. This is often the result of a healthy workplace culture.
How to Identify Your Ideal Workplace?
A workplace isn't just about where you work (place)—it’s about how you work, who you work with, and what values shape the company culture. To determine your ideal workplace, consider the following:
1. Work Culture: Collaborative or Independent?
A strong component of an ideal workplace is its culture. During your job application (if it's a face-to-face interview), you'll get a glimpse of the office environment and what it's like to work for the company.
If you observe employees working inside the organization closely and how they interact, you will notice behaviors that could give insights into their work culture.
If it's your ideal workplace, ask yourself this question:
"Do you enjoy brainstorming with teams or prefer working independently with minimal supervision?"
If you'd like to work alone (or want to have work at home, as many Filipinos are today), you would be on the latter side—of working independently with minimal supervision.
Pro Tip: Think about your past jobs or projects. Did you perform better when collaborating with a team, or did too many meetings drain you? If you're unsure, experiment with both styles by having a side project that allows you to work alone—freelance work or even volunteer roles.
Both collaborative and independent workplaces offer the same advantages.
Collaborative Workplace: Expect teamwork, frequent discussions, and shared goals. This is common in startups, creative fields, and customer-focused industries.
Independent Workplace: You'll have autonomy, personal accountability, and more self-direction. You need more self-discipline with this kind of ideal workplace. Mostly, you'll find roles requiring deep focus, analysis, or technical expertise.
2. Work Flexibility: Remote, Hybrid, or On-Site?
This is a core component of the kind of workplace you prefer. As we all know, work setups have evolved, with many companies offering different models. Consider these three types of work setup:
- On-Site Work: Structure, in-person collaboration, and clear work-life separation.
- Remote Work: This offers Flexibility and reduced commuting time but requires self-discipline.
- Hybrid Work: A mix of both, allowing in-person teamwork and independent focus time.
During the interview, you can ask about the work setup for your given role. From there, you can assess whether you're okay with proceeding with the job (for instance, if you've already been offered the job).
3. Leadership Style: Hands-On or Autonomous?
The truth is that you'll always be working under a boss. Your leader will always be up there as you climb higher on the corporate ladder,
Though you may not choose who will be your boss as you start working in the company (they will always be an ideal supervisor or manager), answering this in an interview helps the recruitment staff learn more about your working style (especially when joining a team).
💡 Interview Tip: If you need mentorship, say, "I thrive under leadership that provides guidance and continuous learning opportunities." If you prefer autonomy, say, "I appreciate leadership that trusts employees to take ownership of their work."
4. Career Growth: Structured or Fluid?
Your long-term success depends on how a company supports your professional development. The more you grow within the organization, the more likely you would stay.
Structured and fluid growth are often the two factors that dictate career growth. How do they differ?
- Structured Growth: Clear career paths, promotions, and training programs. Common in corporate and hierarchical environments.
- Fluid Growth: Learning through projects, skill-building, and diverse responsibilities. Found in startups and dynamic companies.
Set career goals. These could be aligned with the current corporate structure and promotional opportunities added to the company. Generally, if you move to a higher role, there will be room for growth.
However, there are companies where you move to higher job positions, yet they don't give you room for growth opportunities.
💡 Interview Tip: If structure is important, say: "I’m motivated by clear career progression and development programs." If you prefer flexibility, say, "I enjoy roles that allow me to grow through varied projects and new challenges."
How to answer “What kind of workplace do you prefer?” in an interview?
Preparing to answer questions about your ideal workplace can help you build self-confidence, leave a strong impression, and ultimately secure the job.
Employers ask this question to assess whether your work style, values, and expectations align with their company culture ("culture fit").
So giving them a well-thought response (not a generic, templated interview answer) will show that you have high self-awareness, adaptability, and a clear understanding of what and how makes you productive.
1. Be Honest. Share Your Ideal Environment While Remaining Flexible
While it's important to be true about the type of workplace where you want to thrive, don't make it ideal. Avoid sounding rigid. If you strongly prefer a particular setting (e.g., a highly collaborative culture), express it, but also show a willingness to adapt. Remember, there's no such thing as a perfect workplace.
Employees value candidates who can work effectively in different environments, as internal changes happen so often within the company, so you can't escape not adapting to the ever-changing working landscape.
Here's an example of how you would express it:
💬 Example:
"I enjoy a collaborative workplace where I can share ideas, but I’m also comfortable working independently when needed."
2. Match Your Answer to the Company– Research Their Culture and Highlight Shared Values
Before your scheduled job interview, research the company's culture through its website, social media, and employee reviews. Linkedin, Jobstreet, Indeed, and Glassdoor are some websites where you can see employee reviews.
You can align your responses accordingly if the company emphasizes teamwork and open communication. This will also help you set the tone of the conversation and give you a competitive advantage, as you will know the company better than other job candidates.
Highlight your ability to work autonomously while staying aligned with the team's goals and objectives.
You can answer in a job interview, in a way:
💬 Example:
"Based on what I’ve learned about your company, teamwork and knowledge-sharing are key values. I thrive in that environment where I can contribute while learning from others."
3. Show Adaptability – Employers Appreciate Candidates Who Can Work in Various Settings
As mentioned earlier, adaptability responses show employers that you can adjust to different dynamics. They also speak well of your ability to collaborate on team projects, work remotely, or manage tasks independently.
One example of a job interview response looks like this:
💬 Example:
"I work best in a structured environment with clear goals, but I’m also adaptable to fast-paced settings where priorities shift."
Key Takeaway: Align Your Workplace Preference with Success
The key is not to be rigid about your style and preferences but to be more adaptive to the company's needs. After all, you are applying for a job or working to serve your employer.
Knowing what kind of workplace you prefer helps you make informed career choices. Choosing the right environment ensures productivity, motivation, and career satisfaction, whether it’s a structured corporate role, a flexible startup, or an independent work setup. Before joining a company, research its culture, ask the right questions, and reflect on what makes you most productive and fulfilled.