Project Management Tips

Killing the Voice Inside, continued...

Handling criticism at work

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Harold drove home later that night and arrived at a dark house. His wife had gone to bed hours ago, and he wondered why he felt like such a complete failure. After all, despite the VP's uneducated opinion, and the fact that the VP was dead wrong, this project was on track. Nevertheless, Harold slumped into a chair. He reached for a bottle of scotch and a glass, and summarily began to drink shot after shot. Harold fell asleep at the kitchen table with an unfinished glass of scotch in his hand.

Dealing with Criticism at Work

Many people have a difficult time dealing with criticism while working on a project. It is common for those criticized to internalize any negative remarks coming from bosses and superiors. Perhaps you remember a time in your past when you made a simple mistake or faux pas and felt a rush of shame. Perhaps this uncomfortable feeling lingered for an hour or a day, maybe the rumination lasted for several days. The key point is that in many cases, the criticism brings about a cycle of negative emotion. This is one of the reasons why people often grow to hate the projects they are working on. They develop a variety of negative emotions while trying to cope with the difficulties they endure throughout the project's life cycle. In most cases, remarks such as the VP's by management are undeserved and simply a mechanism for management to feel as if they are 'contributing' to the project process. Even if external elements are causing problems, management will lean on workers to push through the obstacles, sometimes in an irrational manner. Meanwhile, the staff finds themselves depressed and engaged in a hateful process that seems to last forever. As management applies pressure, the team grows more demoralized by the day.

The secret key to get away from this emotional quagmire is in learning to separate emotions and feelings from the criticism process. Examine your feelings and realize that probably 80% of your negative feelings are related to some situation that occurred many years ago. It is human nature to gel similar events together emotionally, fusing past and present negativity into a giant emotional weight. Examine the validity of the feeling, and separate out past events that are contributing to the "down". Then evaluate the criticism in question and see if it's valid, and if it is not, strive to reduce its effect on your psyche. This is essential to good emotional management.

If a worker can accomplish this emotional separation, the cycle of shame will be mitigated and the project can move on without a growing feeling of doom. The importance of such emotional inventory is significant, altering careers for the better. Once someone has mastered their ability to not become emotionally trapped by projects, workers, and superiors, their mind is free to focus on the truly important tasks standing before them. They become free from time wasting mind trips, which will no doubt degrade their performance and behavior. Management will take notice, and they will admire your resilience and calm attitude in the face of mistakes, problems, and whatever else is thrown your way. This is a major key in the development of your work persona, and will no doubt give you a clear path to project success.



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