“You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!” – A Few Good Men
A couple of weeks ago, one of my colleagues and I resumed
our collaborative reviews on several documents on our operations. Unlike before
when I was the one who sought their comments on my drafts, it was the other way
around this time, with me reviewing theirs.
Coming from a multicultural work environment where feedback –
whether positive or negative – were reviewed and resolved in a professional
manner, I was surprised with the animosity and defensive stance that was now
laid out in black and white in response to my remarks to the drafts. It was
obvious that the comments, suggestions, and questions that I posted on the
content, consistency, grammar, and aesthetics of the drafts were not at all
welcome.
The remarks were taken as though they were personal attacks
that were meant to question their authority or knowledge on the subject, when
in fact the remarks were about the documents themselves.
So here’s a couple of questions for you. When you seek
feedback, are you sure that you’re ready for the answers and some further
probing? How do you handle feedback?
(P.S. Most of the drafts were later shown to be copied
mostly verbatim from old references that had since been superseded, but that’s
a subject for a separate article.)
