Reacting to Corrective Feedback
An AI-Rewrite of My LinkedIn Article With the Same Title & Introduction
Disclaimer: This article was written mostly by GPT-3 given the introduction of my original article as a prompt; a few edits were made for style and clarity.
My brain used to freeze when someone points out a mistake I made; a sense of embarrassment and shame typically followed. Consciously observing and reflecting on one’s emotional state in such situations helps reprogram reactions to achieve better outcomes. When receiving corrective feedback, what is your knee-jerk reaction? I think the default should be inspecting the facts and the feedback’s merit in a manner devoid of emotions — like a judge in court; my coach at LinkedIn, Nick Strauss, gave me a great analogy for this: Catch the feedback in your baseball mitt and inspect it from afar; don’t let it hit you in the chest.
To do this, think of the feedback as something you are taking notes on and assessing, but don’t internalize it. Then once you’ve mentally processed the feedback, thank the person for giving you the feedback and let them know that you’ll reflect on what they said. Hopefully this will build a sense of trust and open the door for more feedback in the future. Here’s an important caveat: Once you have the feedback in hand, don’t immediately jump to the defensive. This is important because it’s natural…
