Someone said to me ‘A criticism is just a really bad way of making a request.’ What do you think?
Could we just make the request? Could we say ‘Could we work on this thing that makes me feel this way?’
How about instead of getting frustrated saying “Can we discuss expectations?”
Try it today and let me know what happens…
It also requires a lot of humility to do so, and people often don’t want to own up to the fact that they need help, and from a person they may have been despising.
Thank you for commenting Gretiana. You make an interesting point – I think it also requires that we take accountability for our own actions. I think it is interesting that sometimes we criticise when we haven’t been clear on what we were expecting.
It sounds like you’ve already tried changing criticisms into requests – what happened?
As I grow from a young person in the Christian faith to a more mature person, I understand leadership better and I know how to relate with them in a more mature way. Sometimes my criticism was just a sign of my immaturity and ignorance in that area.