Stop, Listen and Breathe
You gut reaction might be to scream, yell, and just totally lose it. But instead of letting your adrenalin take over, take a deep breath, stop, listen and wait. Ask for time to process the feedback before you respond, and ask to continue the discussion at a later time so you can gather your thoughts in a coherent way. You don’t want to say something you will regret later and you definitely don’t want to ruin a relationship or lose your job over a poor choice of words that you didn’t really think through.
Ask Questions and Start a Discussion
When you receive feedback, ask questions and make it an open discussion. It shouldn’t be a lecture or a one-sided attack. It’s OK to ask for more details, to ask for examples and to talk about next steps so you can figure out how to improve rather than just focusing on what you did wrong.
