Our reader poll today asks: How do you react when someone is overly-critical of your work?

• I seek to fully understand any and all feedback I receive: 32.63%
• I look for major issues but tend to ignore smaller criticisms: 45.46%
• I tend to be dismissive of what feels like overly critical remarks: 17.64%
• I blow it off. I have work to do and don’t have time for excessive criticism: 4.27%

Feedback matters. Whether you like the feedback or not, you’d do well to at least consider it. It’s challenging for people to provide feedback and the vast majority don’t unless it’s a major issue. So figure for each person providing feedback, there are five others who are too uncomfortable to offer the same thoughts. If an issue comes up, you’d do well to evaluate it and put it in the proper perspective. Don’t oversteer though – you don’t have to act on every piece of feedback you receive. Sometimes they’re just style or personality differences that lead to the feedback. Act on items of substance and file away other seemingly smaller feedback. But if you begin to see patterns in that smaller feedback over time, assess whether it’s a bigger trend you need to act on. Regardless of the situation, beware of dismissing feedback at your own risk.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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Our reader poll today asks: How comfortable are you with initiating “uncomfortable conversations?”

• Very: When there’s an uncomfortable topic, I proactively bring it up immediately: 5.69%
• Mostly: I may hesitate, but I do bring up the most important uncomfortable topics: 23.92%
• Sort of: Unless it’s a huge issue, I’ll tend to let the issue pass: 9.66%
• Not very: I have a really hard time initiating uncomfortable situations: 7.85%
• Not at all: I’ll avoid these conversations at all costs, let alone starting them: 52.88%

Avoidance leads to bigger issues. A huge percentage of you avoid difficult or uncomfortable conversations at all costs. While this might alleviate stress in the near term, it makes for bigger headaches in the long run. If someone doesn’t know something is wrong about their behavior, not telling them is a disservice to them and you. People can’t correct what they’re unaware of. And avoiding the conversation in the hopes that the behavior just disappears is wishful thinking. Over time, things will just get worse and that mildly uncomfortable conversation can become extremely uncomfortable and problematic. Do yourself a favor – tell them what’s going on. Letting things fester only makes them worse. Your next step after reading this: find time to have that uncomfortable conversation you’ve been avoiding. You might be pleasantly surprised by how well it goes when the other person gets feedback they can act on to improve their performance and their relationship with you.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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Our reader poll today asks: How collaborative is your team?

• Extremely: Everything we do is a team effort: 15%
• Very: We generally help one another out and put team before self: 36%
• Somewhat: We’ll collaborate on important tasks but that’s it: 21%
• Not very: It takes a crisis and a strong push to drive collaboration: 15%
• Not at all: It’s every person for themselves: 14%

Where’s the collaboration? It’s a bit unnerving to see that 50% of you are on teams that are “somewhat” or less than that in terms of being collaborative. If you’re leading one of these teams, ask yourself what the barriers are to collaboration. Is it trust? Are incentives not aligned? Are there personalities that simply clash? Whatever the source of the lack of collaboration, attack it vigorously. Your team is the biggest impediment to its own success in these situations. If you’re not the team leader but you’re a team member, surface these issues to your leader. You have a responsibility to help fix them and in doing so, you’ll be doing something to make your own work life more satisfying. Collaboration is the very definition of a team. If it’s not happening, there’s no more important business challenge for you to tackle. Right now.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post?  If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog.  It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!).  SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

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