How to handle negative feedback?

[lemonsandlimes2]

I won’t go into detail as worried people from my work are on here.

I received some bad feedback from my manager from a client, in the way I’ve been approaching and delivering work and they expected this not this. I was shocked as they didn’t say anything to me about this. I’ve been working in my industry for 10 years and this is the first time I’ve had negative feedback from a client, apart from when I first started and was learning. I got an award last week for a different project so feel like my skills are maybe not what I thought.

I’ve put in a discussion to put it right and clarify what they expect from me and how to move forward but I’m absolutely mortified. Especially as they didn’t raise with me directly as I only had a thank you from the client last week! They have been a really difficult client, and part of what they’re saying is true but because of the circumstances in how they work with me. It’s made a horrible project even worse and I wish I could be taken off it but my manager won’t take me off.

Please help me deal with negative feedback better as I’ve been crying and beating myself up all day. I keep thinking maybe I’m just shit.

I think we all get negative feedback at some point in our careers. So you’re not alone.

For me, the best thing that I’ve found is to take time to consider the feedback after the initial emotional reaction is over. I normally give myself two days to sulk (!) then I can think a bit clearer about whether the feedback was correct/deserved. Sometimes it won’t be (and might not be in this situation). Sometimes you can take something away from it to learn from but not everything. Try to give it some time before reacting publicly (ie, follow up emails etc).

I also find this ted talk really helpful for my resilience. If this link doesn’t work, it’s the Lucy Hone one from Christchurch ted X on the 3 things to do to become more resilient.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=NWH8N-BvhAw