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How do you deal with criticism at work?
This morning, I had an impromptu meeting with a very high level person in my office to discuss a report I had written. I made a mistake in a number in the report - the number should have been a 5 year total, and I included just a yearly total - literally just forgot to put +XXX*5 in the Excel spreadsheet. I assured this person I would correct it immediately and return the document to him.
Fast forward to this afternoon, when I get called into my boss' office (different person) and told that this higher up was "very upset" with the way I handled the situation. He said that he felt I was "cavalier" about it and that I didn't see the gravity of my mistake. Now, remember, this report has not gone to a client, is in draft form, and is in no way final. But apparently my chipper, "I'll get right on that" attitude that usually wins me high praise from this person in this instance makes me nonchalant and cavalier about my work.
Truthfully, I've been sitting here for 20 minutes trying to process this and not be upset with myself and the whole situation, but I can't get it out of my head. I'm really frustrated. This is a person who has respected me and has given me a great deal of responsibility in our office, and to think that he's upset with me for something I would see as so small is frustrating.
How do you ladies deal with a situation like this? Or any criticism in the office? I can't seem to brush it off.
Re: How do you deal with criticism at work?
I'd first want to know how you responded to your boss. Did you point out that this was a draft report and that you appreciated this guy pointing things out before it went to the client?
I had a similar situation in my last job. After years of my mom calling me high-strung
my NJ co-workers said I was one of the most laid-back people in my office. And my boss saw that as a bad thing. He felt I needed to be more "on edge" with clients, which apparently is supposed to translate to being on top of things. When I would calmly say we could take care of an issue and it wasn't a big deal, he thought it was me appearing to blow off a crisis.
And he actually said I was too laid-back one time when he got upset at me over something and I shut down instead of telling him off. Obviously he needed to work on interpreting my body language, because he couldn't tell that I was keeping quiet to avoid saying something that would likely get me fired.
Anyhoo, I did my best to show appropriate emotion according to the people around me, and to improve on the other things that I knew I needed work on. It may be a matter of explaining to all involved that you're aware this could translate to a large problem, but that you appreciate a fresh pair of eyes catching it, and you'll pay more attention to detail in the future. And be more emotive when you're around this guy. It stinks, but sometimes you gotta play the game.
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My boss was quite understanding and basically said he understood my reaction, and appreciated my work. He made sure to tell me that I'm doing a fantastic job in general and not to let this get to me. But that I should take it as a learning point with this particular individual, which I will. So it's good that at least my boss is supportive. It's just tough not to take it personally.
So that is good that you had support from your boss. 100 bucks says this person treats your boss this way as well. Just know some people are like that, he could have had a bad day but that is not an excuse. What people dont realize is that you will never forget the way he treated you and the old saying... karma is a ***. Something similiar has happened to me in the workplace and I am just waiting for it to come back to that person. Not to be evil but I it made me feel better...
You are doing good just try to forget it. I know its hard.