Trusting relationships
It’s natural to listen to people we trust, as such if a manager has a trusting relationship with their staff members it will lead to better communication when it comes to offering some constructive criticism. This rings true with Pascale Goy, Head of Learning & Development Group, CERN, the European organisation for nuclear research, who believes it all lies on who is sharing the feedback, which will ultimately help sway employees to listen and not ignore negative comments.
“The first reaction when you receive negative feedback is you look at who is giving it, whether you have a close connection or not and whether you want to take it or ignore it,” she explains.
“We are doing more training around giving and receiving feedback, because this is becoming a crucial skill in personal and professional development. We all know by experience that being able to receive negative feedback is part of growing up. So, for this reason I think workers aren’t ignoring feedback it just depends on who gives it.”
Similarly, Andrea Smith, HR Director UK & Ireland at Coty Inc., the multinational beauty company, agrees that it all boils down to trust. Having open communication between a manager and employee will ensure that they acknowledge feedback whether it is negative or positive. “Lack of trust in managers being receptive to two way and open dialogue can cause a communication gap,” Smith says. “When workers feel that they are not being listened to, or their own feedback is being ignored, this leads to workers feeling that their opinion has no value. This results in workers not acknowledging feedback on areas of improvements.”