Leadership is doing what is best for the team and the brand overall. Being able to handle Constructive Criticism is an essential part of being an effective leader. Leaders get paid to face and handle challenging situations. As a leader, you must take out the emotions when leading your team, and brand to success. Leadership requires mental toughness. Think of constructive criticism as a way to grow, influence, and challenge others to maximize their potential and abilities. Leaders must be able to visualize the unexpected outcomes, handle criticism effectively, and not focus on being the most popular.
Constructive Criticism if delivered in the right way will be beneficial to your success cycle. One thing you want to remember as a leader is that you should give constructive criticism both for a person as an individual and for the job itself. Constructive Criticism can inspire and challenge the growth of your team, along with elevating your brand to an even higher level!
Three things when giving constructive criticism:
Be honest & Sincere:
• Point out where things went wrong
• Share areas which one can still grow in
Set higher standards:
• This shows you believe in that person and their abilities
• Shows the individual that you respect them
Follow Up:
• Observe them and make sure you compliment them implementing your suggestions
• Offer any more suggestions that will allow the individual to maximize their abilities and talents.
I remember early in my speaking career I had a tremendous job for a Fortune 500 brand. I was very excited to deliver this keynote to this company in downtown Chicago. At the end of my presentation, I got much positive feedback from people in the audience, so I thought I nailed the presentation. A few days after the event, I got an email from the meeting planner informing me that I did a fantastic job with my stage presence, the audience was totally engaged during my talk, but I could have done a little bit better with teaching the audience some advanced knowledge in the area I was hired for.
After reading that email, I first was extremely disappointed in myself because I thought I let my client down. After taking some time to process the information I received, I realized that I could have done better in educating my client. So I decided to implement the feedback that my client gave me, and the next presentation I did I received high remarks in the areas of stage presence, audience engagement, and educating my client on the topic I was hired for. The meeting planner even sent me a personalized note afterward, saying that her audience still was talking about how good my presentation was six months after the event was over.
Assuming I had not taken the feedback, I had received from a client and applied it to my keynote presentations I would not be as successful in my career to date. So the next time someone gives you some constructive criticism, don’t be so quick to get angry or defensive. Slow down, take a step back and process the information. Then after you process the information, figure out how you can apply the feedback to your work so you can have extreme success with your brand and vision!!!
Marques Ogden, Keynote Speaker
