Flip the script on criticism

As soon as you make the leap from student to educator in academia, critical feedback becomes a vital part of your life. Learning how to work with critiques and criticism instead of railing against them is the key to sustaining a healthy career. It’s also important when navigating the path to progression.

Most of us have experienced frustration, anger and annoyance over harsh comments, spiteful remarks or doubting questions from students, reviewers or even colleagues. It can be hard to swallow when your work or performance has been criticised, and when your expertise has been called into question. This is especially true in the world of publications where contradictory, patronising, biased and unprofessional comments can be given by uncharitable reviewers (known as the third reviewer problem). But we might also find that the toughest comments to embrace are the most constructive ones, as all of us have blind spots that only others can see.

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How do we, then, stay unfazed by the negativity and objectively evaluate the validity of the criticism? Shifting our personal perspectives can help us to reframe our mindset and re-evaluate our responses towards the feedback.

1) Reset and reflect

Getting emotional can restrict our ability to stay open-minded and to consider criticisms objectively. That said, being human, we are not impervious to emotional fluctuations. It is wiser to take some time, perhaps even sleep on it, to let the emotions blow over and reset your mind’s lens before reflecting on the comments again. Ask yourself critically: “What has led to this comment?” This emotional distancing will allow you to regain objectivity and to avoid tunnel vision, when emotions take centre stage.

2) Every bit counts

Sometimes, the change suggested might be too huge to consider. It can be easy to simply dismiss the unrealistic expectations of others to make such extensive changes to our work. Embracing criticism does not mean taking an entirely new approach based on someone else’s input. For instance, if your reviewer suggests an entirely new analysis approach to synthesise your study findings, it might seem impractical and outrageous at first glance. But you might find it doable once it has been broken down into steps. Remember the Chinese idiom: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” However small, we should strive to implement the change that is possible at the time.

3) Be outcome centric

“Hey, that’s not what I meant!” one academic remarked, looking at a reviewer’s feedback. We get defensive by nature when threatened. We might feel annoyed and infuriated when criticism with unfounded or unsubstantiated bases comes our way. The natural tendency is to defend aggressively, state our viewpoints and clarify our positions. More often than not, this defensive stance gathers more resistance than acceptance, as humans tend to mirror each other’s behaviour. This will result in a lot of time taken before others can appreciate your perspectives.

Respond, but don’t react. Importantly, we should be focused on our intended outcomes. Pause and consider: “Are my responses to the criticism helpful or constructive towards the outcome I wanted?” If no, it might be wiser to consider responding in a different way.

4) Cultivate a zero mindset

Zero mindset is similar to growth mindset, except it is more about resetting your overall perspective to a fresh start, in order to make changes to your current state. Over many years, we tend to feel that we have made a lot of changes and achieved a lot of progress, creating a false perception that we should have less to work on. With a zero mindset, you are returning to the starting line, back to the point where you were a student. This leaves much more room and appetite for improvements.

To help foster such mindset, we need to stay eager to learn from anyone, to listen, comprehend and probe before commenting. Keep in mind that everyone you will ever meet knows something that you don’t.

We cannot change how others critique or criticise, but we can reframe our perspectives to embrace feedback constructively. Criticism should be viewed as a stepping stone instead of a barrier to improvement.

While we expect students to be open-minded and to show humility in learning, we also need to demonstrate a healthy response to criticism and inspire lifelong learning with a zero mindset. Don’t just share success stories – let’s share the lessons from rejections and failures, too. It can go a long way in cultivating resilience and helping to navigate the complexity of the academic world in the future.

Tan Xiang Ren is assistant professor in the Health and Social Sciences cluster at Singapore Institute of Technology. 

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