How I Deal with Criticism – Part 3

#3: It takes Trust in Myself to Deal with Criticism.

When the critic’s voice is loud in my ear I often fall back on a few things I know about myself:

1. I have to trust my process of decision making. Critics can make us 2nd guess our decision making process. In those moments I have to trust that the way I chose to make the decision was adequate and effective. If not, then their criticism was not entirely unfounded.

2. I have to trust the Information I had at the time of the decision. Every leader is called on at times to make decisions without all of the possible information. In fact, I would venture to say that there are very few times when I actually have all of the information necessary to make a decision. At the end of the day, I have to trust that based upon the information I had, I made the wisest decision for the organization.

3. I have to trust the View of the Mountain I had at the time. The essence of leadership is movement. A leader who is not moving is leading. That being the case, every decision happens in real time while climbing a mountain, so to speak. It is the job of the leader to make the wisest decision possible with the information they had at the time while standing where they are on the mountain.

When criticism comes, I have to trust these 3 things: My decision making ability, the information I had, and my view of the mountain at the time.

Challenge: The next time you make a decision, pause after the fact, and examine the way you came to the decision you did. Take into account the information and view of the mountain.

Just a bloggish thought,

Matt