Communication: Entrepreneurs and The Value of Criticism

Starting a business requires as much preparation of the mind as it does the financial, operational and marketing plans. No competent business person would blindly walk into a deal or contract without fully evaluating all the details.  Entrepreneurs must be 'teachable' and able to respond to information even when the intent is to offend. They also must be able to receive criticism. Criticism has a negative connotation to it, however, there is a major difference between constructive criticism and destructive criticism. Many would say that the major difference between the two is how the sender of the message is sending it. However, I would argue that the major difference is not how the sender meant it but how the the receiver uses it. 

Any statement that any person has ever made about myself or my business, my appearance, or anything else is only defined as constructive or destructive based on how I choose to receive and implement the information. Too many opportunities are overlooked by business people because of their inability to extract the constructive part of any criticism while disregarding the rest. 

For example, let's take a look at the following statements:

1. "Your store has crappy service and the lead cashier has no class"

2. "The store is always filthy when I come in, and I feel rushed because the environment does not feel welcoming"

Neither of these statements are nice and both could probably be stated in a more positive way. However, the savvy business person should be able to extract the good from any statement, assess its value to their organization, and disregard the rest, regardless of how the message is delivered. The emotions of the sender can determine how the message is received, however, it should not.

The first statement appears to be completely negative and most would immediately reject it and see no value in investigating. However, it is clear that the customer is dissatisfied and could potentially spread their dissatisfaction to others. It would be beneficial to look into the statements from an objective point of view to determine if the customer service could use improvement or the lead cashier could use some additional training. Or the manager could choose to overlook these two issues because of how the information was presented.

The second statement is packed full of pointers that when subtracted from all the emotions, can be quite valuable. Is the store in need of better maintenance procedures? Could it be that declining sales is associated with areas that are not as clean as they should be?

The ability to receive and implement criticism can be the difference between success or failure. Business requires the ability to set emotions and personal biases aside for objective decisions that push sales, to be able to foster a great work environment to improve productivity of the workforce, and respond to the demands of customers. Entrepreneurs and business owners will have to master this to be able to remain competitive and supply what their customers demand.

Can you think of a time when someone offended you but after the emotions wore off, the advice was instrumental in helping your business?

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