All categories/Workplace communication
Workplace communication · Level Advanced · Communication Feedback Communication
Being criticised: absorb, then explain
Publicly criticised and my instinct is to explain.
Prompt
You lead with what the other side needs, then what you need. Emotion stays with you; facts and options go across the table.
Task: Publicly criticised and my instinct is to explain.
[Before you start, do three things]
1. Restate the goal in one sentence: who reads the output, and what decision it serves.
2. If I have not given you the following, ask me. Do not assume:
- the specific criticism
- the facts
- whether there is a misunderstanding
- the setting
3. Say how you plan to do it (at most 5 steps) and wait for my go-ahead.
[Go through each of these]
- on the spot, confirm facts only
- concede the part that holds, specifically
- anything to clarify goes to a private conversation
- follow up with one concrete change
[Process]
1. Read their situation and pressure first
2. Turn feeling into facts and impact
3. Offer a cheap way to respond
4. State the ask and the date
5. Check whether you decided for them
[Output]
One conclusion, facts, the ask, the date. Nothing long.
[Do not]
- Never embarrass anyone in public
- No 'you always' or 'you never'
- Do not send while angry
- Never handle a personal conflict in a group channelWhat to state before it starts
Leave these unsaid and the model fills them with an assumption. Most 'wrong answers' start here.
- the specific criticism
- the facts
- whether there is a misunderstanding
- the setting
Go through each of these
Where this kind of work most often goes wrong. Already in the prompt, so you do not have to remember it.
- on the spot, confirm facts only
- concede the part that holds, specifically
- anything to clarify goes to a private conversation
- follow up with one concrete change