Getting feedback at work can feel uncomfortable, even when it’s delivered well. For a lot of people, especially early in their working life, hearing that something didn’t go to plan or that there’s room to improve can feel personal, like a reflection of who you are rather than just how a task went. That’s a pretty natural reaction, but it’s also one worth learning to work through, because feedback is one of the most useful tools you have for actually getting better at your job.
The good news is that responding to feedback well is a skill, and like any skill, it can be developed with a bit of practice and the right approach.
Receiving critical feedback
Critical feedback is the kind most people find hardest to sit with. It’s worth knowing that the discomfort you feel in the moment doesn’t mean the feedback is wrong or unfair, it usually just means you care about doing a good job, which is actually a positive thing.
The most important thing you can do when receiving critical feedback is to listen without interrupting. It sounds simple, but the instinct when you feel put on the spot is to start explaining yourself before the other person has finished speaking. Letting them get through what they’re saying first, even if it’s uncomfortable, means you’ll actually hear the full picture rather than just the part that stung.
Once they’ve finished, it’s fine to take a moment before you respond. Acknowledging what’s been said without immediately defending yourself goes a long way. Something like “Thanks for letting me know, I’ll think about that” is enough to close the conversation professionally while you process what was actually said. You don’t have to agree with everything on the spot, and you don’t need to have a plan for fixing it within the next thirty seconds.
What matters more is what happens after the conversation. Take a bit of time to sit with the feedback and consider whether it’s something you can act on. If you’re unsure what was meant or how to actually improve, going back to ask for clarification is completely reasonable. Most managers will respect that more than silence followed by the same issue coming up again.
Acting on critical feedback
Hearing feedback is one thing, doing something with it is another. The gap between the two is where a lot of people get stuck, either because they’re not sure what to change or because the discomfort of the original conversation makes them want to avoid thinking about it.
A practical way to approach it is to identify one specific thing you can do differently next time. Feedback doesn’t always come with a clear solution attached, so breaking it down into something concrete and actionable makes it much easier to follow through on. If your manager mentioned that your communication with customers needs work, for example, think about one specific moment in your next shift where you can apply that.
It’s also worth checking in after you’ve made an effort to act on feedback. You don’t need to make a big thing of it, but letting your manager know that you took their comments on board and have been working on it shows a level of awareness that tends to get noticed.
Receiving positive feedback
Positive feedback is easier to receive but easier to dismiss, and a lot of people do exactly that. Deflecting a compliment or brushing off recognition might feel like modesty, but it also means missing out on genuinely useful information about what you’re doing well.
When a manager or colleague points out something you’ve handled well, it’s worth taking a moment to actually register it rather than moving past it quickly. Understanding what went right is just as valuable as understanding what didn’t, because it tells you what to keep doing. If your manager mentions that you handled a difficult customer really well, that’s worth noting, not just as a nice moment but as a signal of a skill you can lean into.
Positive feedback is also a reasonable thing to build on. If someone highlights a strength, it’s worth thinking about where else you could apply it, or whether it’s something you want to develop further over time.
The bigger picture
Learning to take feedback well, both the critical and the positive kind, is one of those skills that quietly makes everything else easier. It helps you improve faster, builds trust with the people you work with, and makes difficult conversations feel a lot less daunting the more you have them. Nobody gets it perfectly right every time, but approaching feedback with a degree of openness rather than defensiveness puts you well ahead of where most people start.
For more advice on building skills in the workplace, head to our Skills for Work section.
