Study finds that criticism makes us more creative if it is from certain people

Study finds that criticism makes us more creative if it is from certain peopleStudy finds that criticism makes us more creative if it is from certain peopleTheres a reason that Come see me in my office is one of the scariest phrases there is it always sounds like it means youre going to get criticized or fired.Indeed, managers should take care when giving negative feedback, according to a new study co-authored by Yeun Joon Kim, a PhD student at the University of Torontos Rotman School of Management, in a release. Done the wrong way, criticism can actually suppress creativity. But given by the right person, criticism can increase creativity.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreKims past career as a software engineer and the type of negative feedback he received in that line of work inspired the idea for this study.I personally hate hearing negative feedback as fruchtwein people do a nd I wondered if it really improved my performance, particularly when it came to completing creative tasks, says Kim.For the study, Kim and his co-author Junha Kim, a PhD student at Ohio State university, observed through a field experiment and a lab experiment on how getting negative feedback could affect the creativity of those receiving the criticism.They found that criticism could both help or hurt creativity. The key was who the criticism came from.Its all about the person giving the feedbackWhen creative professionals or participants received criticism from a boss or a peer, they had a tendency to be hurt by that criticism, showing less creativity in what they produced next. However, if they received criticism from an employee who was lower on the totem pole than them, they became more creative.It makes sense that employees might feel threatened by criticism from their managers, says Kim. Supervisors have a lot of influence in deciding promotions or pay raises. So negative fee dback from a boss might trigger career anxieties.Also threatening could be criticism from a coworker, who we often compete against.But criticism from a lower-ranking coworker, someone who we dont feel threatened by, seems to make us just open enough to receive the message.Managers, too, found criticism from their underlings to be useful.Its not that supervisors enjoy criticism rather, they are in a natural power position and can cope with the discomfort of negative feedback better, says Kim.Criticism is, of course, necessary. But its all in how you do it. Managers, says Kim, just need to be aware of how they sound.If youre a supervisor, just be aware that your negative feedback can hurt your followers creativity, says Kim. Followers tend to receive negative feedback personally. Therefore, keep your feedback specific to tasks. Explain how the point youre discussing relates to only their task behavior, not to aspects of the person.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 ritual s that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people