Being criticized in the workplace can make us doubt ourselves. (representative)
Dublin:
Being criticized in the workplace, whether it’s written reports and projects, presentations, or performance reviews, can make us doubt ourselves. It’s impossible not to take criticism personally, as many of us tend to derive our self-worth from our careers.
As an academic, I deal with criticism all the time, from feedback on my research to evaluations of my teaching. Sometimes I feel like criticism is directed at me personally rather than at what I write or the quality of my lectures.
In these moments, I try to separate my sense of self-worth from what I do and how others see me. The work of Hannah Arendt is particularly helpful here. In her book The Human Condition (1958), the German-Jewish political thinker distinguished between “who” we are and “what we are.” She wrote:
In actions and words, men demonstrate who they are, actively revealing their unique personal identities that allow them to appear in the human world… This disclosure of “who” contrasts with someone’s “what” Contrast – his qualities, gifts, talents and shortcomings he may show or hide – is implicit in everything someone says and does.
For Arendt, who we are is synonymous with our unique individuality. But it is impossible to describe a person’s character. Words cannot adequately describe the essence of a person. Arendt believed that words fail when we try, and we end up describing what a person is: their skills, character traits, and flaws.
Our attributes (what we are) do not make us unique. What is the difference between a teacher with red hair, green eyes, who is kind to students, and gets along well with colleagues, and other teachers with the same characteristics?
Disclose who we are
Arendt wrote that people reveal who they are when talking and interacting with others, and concluded that this could only happen in public. What she means is that a person’s personality shines through their words and actions. For example, teachers are unique in how they express kindness and understanding to their students in their own way—something that others cannot replicate.
If our personality is only shown in public, it leads us to believe that our sense of self-worth is largely in the hands of others. Who we are seems to be inextricably linked to how others see us and what they say about what we do. The uniqueness of a teacher seems to depend entirely on how students perceive their interactions.
Yet Arendt’s reflections on the public nature of our character can actually help us avoid taking criticism personally. Although who we are is perceived by others, we are not entirely determined by what they think of us. This is because descriptions and evaluations of what we do can never reflect who we are.
Often, criticism is simply an assessment of who we are. Arendt’s distinction between “who we are” and “what we are” reminds us to separate our sense of self-worth from the perspectives of others. It helps us realize that we are much more important than what others say about our work.
If your boss tells you that your writing could be clearer, that you should be more prepared for the next meeting, or that you need to be a better team player, they are not talking about who you are as a person.
When Arendt claims that our personality is in the hands of others, she means that we have no control over what others think of us. We can do our best to show that we are kind, agreeable, and good at what we do. We may even try to appear in a certain way or convince others to change their minds about us. But we simply cannot force others to see us the way we want to be seen.
So, if revealing who we are is beyond our control, why bother trying to prove ourselves to others? Why should we take other people’s criticisms to heart when we can’t necessarily change their opinion of us?
Arendt firmly believed that it was still worthwhile to reveal our unique personalities. She insisted: “While no one knows who he exposes when he exposes himself in his actions and words, he must be willing to risk exposure.”
There is no guarantee that others will see us the way we see ourselves, or that we can avoid criticism altogether. But without risking exposure to our unique personalities, we lose the opportunity to show others who we are and what we are capable of.
(author:Samantha Fazekas, Lecturer in Political Philosophy, Trinity College Dublin)
(Disclosure Statement:Samantha Fazekas does not work for, consult, own shares in, or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant relationships beyond her academic appointment)
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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