How to Take Feedback When It Feels Like Criticism

Feedback is meant to help us improve, yet it often feels personal, emotional, and destabilising. This learning element explores why even well-intentioned feedback can trigger defensiveness, self-doubt, or withdrawal at work. Rather than focusing on delivering feedback better, this episode shifts the lens to the skill that matters more: how you receive it.

Using a realistic workplace scenario, the video breaks down the psychology behind harsh feedback, how pressure and context distort delivery, and why reacting defensively often damages credibility and relationships. You’ll learn how to stay grounded, extract what’s useful, and protect your confidence without becoming closed off or hardened.