Use feedback to improve now for better results next time.

Shift the focus from personal critique to professional growth.

Feedback can sometimes feel like a personal critique. When a manager corrects your work, resist the urge to get defensive or spend time over-explaining why the mistake happened. Instead, shift your focus from the error to the solution. Acknowledge the feedback, ask a quick question to make sure you understand the new expectation, and state exactly how you’ll adjust your process moving forward. Recognize your defensive impulses so your ego doesn’t drive your reaction and stall your progress more than the original mistake ever would.

Receiving and using feedback builds your professional maturity. As you move up, you’ll face more complex challenges where constant adjustment—and a thick skin—is required.

Think of every piece of correction as a free coaching session rather than a setback. When a leader takes the time (that they don’t have) to make a suggestion (they could’ve kept to themselves) about a different tone for an email or a better way to format a slide, they’re actually investing in your professional growth. By implementing that advice immediately and making sure you don’t repeat the same mistake are quick ways to build trust to work on more important, independent projects.

Put these approaches into practice.

Let’s look at practical ways to view correction as a free coaching session.