Jenny Barkan, ACC

First of all, let's establish that criticism CANNOT be constructive by definition. (I guess that the questions are generated by AI, which illustrates that people are still smarter. 😃😃😃) Secondly, it would be better for the mindset if we saw the action as "receiving feedback," not "handling it." Lastly, hearing that you weren't at your best is never easy. Feeling shame, frustration, anger, sadness, or embarrassment is totally normal when you first hear "constructive" feedback. Give yourself some time to feel those emotions. They only prove that you are a human being, not a machine. Make sure you seek feedback from people you trust. And then focus on the future actions, not the past mistakes.

When people ask how they can better lead a team or an organization, I always start by reminding them that a team or an organization is a social abstract that does not exist in reality. What does exist? People, individual human beings who came to work together. And unless each employee is thriving, the "team" will have problems. So leaders need to start by putting effort into understanding each individual member of the team, building trust and solid working relationships with them, and creating a system that provides a supportive environment. By doing that, a leader will promote the same behaviour among all team members towards each other. And then, collaboration, innovation and great results will follow.

Feedback is far from the only tool that helps with performance issues. 1. Depending on the situation, training, coaching, or mentoring can be far more effective. So, the first step is to decide whether feedback is the best avenue to take. 2. Step two, please forget about the "sandwich feedback" approach as it has never worked and never will due to the specific processes in the human brain. 3. Make sure that you have good working relationships with the recipient. Otherwise, even the best feedback will be perceived as criticism or a personal attack. 4. Ask permission to give feedback and back down if the permission wasn't granted. 5. Focus on future actions rather than past mistakes.

As with many things in life, burnout is easier to prevent than to deal with its consequences. 1. Adjust your mindset that the leader has to know everything and have answers to all the questions because NO ONE DOES. 2. Being a great and supportive leader doesn't mean that your empathy has to be limitless and that you have no right for boundaries. On the contrary, healthy boundaries, established by leaders, help others to do the same and promote higher standards for mental well-being. 3. Planning doesn't mean squeezing as many tasks into your working hours as your calendar allows. Good planning is to understand how many tasks you can complete with high quality within the given time and then delegate the rest.

First of all, we need to understand whether it is a one-time event or a pattern of behaviour. Once in a while, we all face a bad luck situation outside of our control. In that case, the best way the leader can help is to ensure that there is no systemic flaw that will play the role of an outside factor again. For example, if the company purchases low-quality tools that break easily, it will remain an outside factor for poor performance. But if it's a pattern of behaviour, we are dealing with "victim mentality" syndrome. Usually, these employees have a lifetime to perfect their act, and they won't give up on it easily. First, decide if it is worth your time and energy and then try to find "what's in it for them".

I believe that the first step would be to STOP TRYING TO CONQUER resistance to change because it sounds like there is a battle to be won. Resistance to change is a normal human reaction, and fighting it is a waste of time and energy. If there is no resistance, it means that either the company implemented changes in a perfect manner or the team doesn't really care what's going on. The former is unlikely, and the latter is undesirable. Instead of conquering that resistance to change, focus on embracing it by asking questions and trying to understand your people: what are they exactly resisting to, what needs not to change, how would they handle the change etc. Resistance to change is not a war to win, but an opportunity for growth.