High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How to Use Criticism to Your Advantage

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• How to Use Criticism to Your Advantage: "In order to keep a relationship or work team performing well, five or six positive interactions were needed for every one criticism or negative interaction."

• 7 Ways to Stay Connected, Relevant, and Powerful When Working From Home: "What doesn’t get on your calendar doesn’t happen. Many business owners I spoke with were surprised by how much more intentional they had to be about scheduling in connections, breaks, and routines into their workday."

• How to Train Your Team to Have an Entrepreneurial Mindset: "If they don't make their own mistakes, and suffer the pain and embarrassment and anxiety that comes with them, they will never grow like you did. That's why you need to give them room to fail."

• Break Bad Habits With a Simple Checklist: "You can set goals to achieve your dreams or improve your behavior, but without actionable ways to move forward and a way to measure progress, you’ll fall back into your old bad habits once again."
• This 5-Minute Routine Will Save You Hours of Wasted Work: "Stand-ups are a great alternative to email because they're not just quick, they increase engagement between workers."

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: How to Deal with Criticism

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career and life development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In the video below from Entrepreneur, Ben Angel provides some helpful tips for handling criticism and making the most of difficult feedback.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Ask These Two Questions to Build Resilience

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• To Build Resilience, Ask Yourself Two Simple Questions: "Anxiety can lead to exaggerated worry, irrational fear, and obsessive thoughts. So how do you maintain your calm when the roof is falling on you?"

• 6 Questions to Help You Handle Criticism: "It is important to learn how to take criticism seriously but not personally."

• 9 Toxic Behaviors and How to Avoid Them: "What you probably haven’t heard much about, however, is self-destructive behavior that all-too-often claims the careers of aspiring executives and business leaders."

• 4 Ways to Maintain Momentum: "Here are four strategies that you can use to sustain momentum, avoid having to feel activation energy again, and keep moving in the direction of your dreams."
• 2 Things You Need to Remember When You're Burned on the Job Search: "Part of staying positive throughout your search is managing your expectations."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: To Get Promoted, Get Feedback from Your Critics

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• To Get Promoted, Get Feedback from Your Critics: "Find adversaries who are critical, pinpoint specifics, and are nitpicky. But rather than having them point out your deficiencies, ask them to identify your strengths, and show them you’re committed to improving."

• 10 Things Job Seekers Are Tired of Hearing From Family and Friends: "To someone who isn't engaged in the daily slog of a job search, this question can sound innocent, but it can be exhausting to have to explain repeatedly that no, that job didn't come through."

• 5 Things Being a Marine Taught Me About Being an Entrepreneur: "Show up early. Do your homework. Take the extra time to do it right. These are things that are good advice no matter what your profession, but they are especially important when you are running a business."

• 5 Things Freelancers Do to Supercharge Their Careers: "Companies don’t always invest in sending employees to conferences, which is where they can network to advance in their field. (Many that do go are busy representing their company at the event and less focused on making connections to propel their own careers.)"
• 10 Job Skills Veterans are Great For: "LinkedIn analyzed the profiles of 1.1 million veterans in the workforce and found skills that they’re more likely to have compared with average LinkedIn users."

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: Train Yourself to Deal with Criticism

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

The video below presents 8 ways to train yourself to deal with criticism, something we all need to learn to effectively receive and implement feedback from our bosses, co-workers, or family members.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Happiness at Work and Your Health

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share these every weekend so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• A Menu of Very Small Changes to Boost Your Happiness at Work: "Go outside at least once a day, and if possible, take a walk. The sunlight and activity is good for your focus, mood, and retention of information."

• 5 Career-Boosting Summer Activities: "Summer is the perfect time to invest in yourself. If you can make the case for it, your company just might be able to foot the bill. Taking adult education courses will also help enhance and grow your network. You never know who you'll be sitting next to."                                                      
• 4 Ways to Re-Energize Your Work Engagement: "Make small changes in your daily work routine to incorporate healthy habits, and work up to bigger, more influential changes. For example, start taking the stairs, or bring a healthy lunch from home."


• How Criticism Creates Innovative Teams: "Our findings show that debate and criticism do not inhibit ideas but, rather, stimulate them relative to every other condition."


• Experienced Workers Face More Challenges Finding a Job: "An employer is looking for someone who can help them get something done. Tell them or convince them that you have the talent, experience and, probably most important, the interest or passion to help them get it done." 

Three questions to get the most out of feedback

Have you ever received positive feedback from a supervisor only to be left wondering what exactly it was about what you did that earned you the praise? You are not alone: research has shown that you are more likely to be given specific feedback about poor performance than for positive performance. Very counter-intuitive, especially for those that pride themselves on self-improvement and exceeding goals. "Good job" just doesn't cut it when you desire to excel.

It's important to remember that the relationship between you and your supervisor is a two-way street. If there is something that you are not getting it could be that your supervisor is not aware of it. Take care of your own development and ask these three questions to get the most out of your supervisor's feedback.

What behaviors did you like seeing? This question hones in on what you specifically did to garner the praise. It could be that your attention to detail was a critical component to the success of your task, or that you were able to put aside other projects in order to focus on the one that needed to get done. Regardless, ask about the specific behaviors in order to hone in on what was important to your supervisor.

How did those behaviors correspond with department and organizational goals? Everything that you do should relate to the goals of the department and the organization. Ask your supervisor how your project and your actions related to those goals. Your idea of what the correlation is could be different from what your supervisor envisions. Either way, you will get a better sense of how the time you put in relates to the broader vision of what your organization has set out to accomplish.

What would you like to see more of, and what would you like to see less of? Ask this question to hone in on what nuances of your work your supervisor finds most and least valuable. Take this feedback for what it is, and be sure to say "thank you."

Create the context for present and future feedback by asking for specific details that will aid your future development.