If you receive feedback at work, it’s only a matter of time until you receive some critical (negative) feedback. How you handle it can make the difference between an ultimately positive experience and one in which you feel angry, hurt, or demoralized. Here are five questions to ask yourself in the face of critical feedback.

That is, does the feedback come from someone in a good position to provide it? Do they know you and the situations or behaviors they are referring to? If not, it is easy to dismiss the feedback as invalid. However, might there still be some truth to it? Just because the individual providing the feedback might not be the best source, there still may be something to learn in terms of improving your performance or how others perceive you.

Part of credibility has to do with intentions. Is the feedback provider offering this difficult conversation genuinely for the sake of your improvement, or does it seem as though their motives may have more to do with looking good, feeling superior, or needing to make you look bad? If their intentions are genuine, then this critical feedback could be viewed as a gift, and one that was likely difficult for them to deliver.

Useful feedback refers to actions or behaviors, as those can be changed. Vague feedback, or critical comments about your

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