On criticism

At the end of each semester at NYU, where I've been teaching the last couple of years, I encourage my students to fill out the teacher survey. It's vital, I tell them, for me to get their feedback. I've made changes to the course structure based on that feedback in previous semesters."Don't be afraid to tell me what you didn't like, what you thought should be better," I implore them. I never expected to enjoy teaching, but go figure. But not having any education in education made the start a bit rocky for me. I felt as if I didn't know what I was doing. I was hired, first to teach social media analytics, then to teach social media and branding, because of my expertise in the field - not because of my expertise as a teacher."Be honest, please!" I tell them. I need their honesty. It's akin to "everyone needs an editor", which I used to tell my reporters as I'd ask them to edit an article I wrote when we found ourselves short-handed.I will admit, when I see some of the feedback, I have an initial, "Waah, that student didn't like me!" feeling. It's natural. But then I remember that I asked for completely honest feedback (I don't know who gave what feedback and don't have access to it until after I've submitted my grades). I want to get better. So I read the feedback with an open mind and the class has, not surprisingly, gotten better because of it.What makes this criticism, feedback or whatever you want to call it valuable is that it's not just about what didn't work well, or what the student didn't like. It's that the students suggest things that they would have liked to have gotten out of the class. They tell me the things that didn't work well, but also the things that do work well. They tell me what they would have liked to have seen in the class in place of other things.I read the feedback and I know how to make my class better the next semester. That's why I appreciate what some might consider "negative" feedback so much. I learn from it.Our first instinct when someone tells us they didn't like how we did something is to get defensive. "Well, ALL THESE OTHER PEOPLE LIKED IT," you might think. Or even say. And it may be true. Maybe most of your class did like it. That doesn't matter; it doesn't make the other feedback less valid. Maybe all those people in your class who liked the thing this person didn't like would have liked something else more.That sounds sort of gibberish-y, I'll admit. But the point is, we don't grow if we don't learn. We don't get better if people just tell us everything we do is great. It feels good to be told that we're doing everything right, but that has no value. My smart friend Kelly Hoey this morning talked about having your "bank account" filled - with money and goodwill from others. It enables you to be honest at work if you know you can leave.Instead of saying, "Oh, that's a wonderful idea!" to the latest harebrained thing to come out of a superior's mouth, you can tell them it won't work. You don't feel this pressure to conform and to just be a nodding head in the room. Growth and knowledge come from dissent, from negative feedback.While I sometimes go back and read the positive feedback from my students, I also read the negative. It reminds me that while I'm making a difference in some students' lives, I still have room to grow. I asked the students for this. They're actually doing me a favor that I asked of them.So thank you to everyone who's ever challenged me or given me less than thumbs up, "you're super!" feedback.Oh, and thanks to those who did give me the thumbs up. Those days when I feel down, that helps a lot.Photo by Tanisha Pina via Flickr Creative Commons.