Being a CEO of an organization takes a lot more than just running it. According to Research on Emotional Intelligence, it shows that executives who are at the top of their careers are more likely to have inflated egos. So, how does a CEO handle negative feedback? A study of different kinds of managers shows that first-level managers are more likely to rate themselves similarly to their team but mid-level managers are more likely to place themselves with a higher rating than the team agrees. The gap of difference increases when it comes to senior-level managers.
It happens due to the common trait of most employees where their self-awareness decreases and their view of themselves increases for acquiring more success in their career while moving up the ladder.
Suppressing Feedback to Let the Company Grow
Whenever the company faces criticism from Wall Street analysts or some corporate journalists, the company can use the feedback to strengthen its business module and company structure. Whether CEOs invite such constructive criticism or not, these are the best indicators that pave the way for growth and exposure for the future. With the beginning of the “feedforward” movement in every industry, the C-suite executives are more encouraged towards constructive criticism that helps to move the company forward.
The idea behind the “feedforward” movement was to welcome and expect constructive feedback from every employee. But is working well in reality? Well, that is hard to say since many CEOs still have a rigid attitude of “I Know Better” which is reducing the freedom and room for employees to actually flag an issue or offer honest and truthful feedback.
What Stops Executives from Taking Feedback in Stride?
Ignorance towards criticism is more likely an inherited trait that is most noticeable in C-suite executives. Just like humans pick up habits from their childhood, regardless of good or bad; CEOs tend to learn leadership skills as they proceed through rank and their career where honest feedback is often rejected or gets punished. Therefore, constructive criticism slowly becomes a foreign concept that is not practiced within the organization. No wonder why they feel so uncomfortable accepting constructive advice.
Why CEOs Should be Able to Take Constructive Criticism?
C-suite leaders who are unable to take constructive criticism gradually become a liability to the organization. Rather than seeking out honest and open criticism from the team and other workmates, they tend to surround themselves with people who will shield them without questioning.
This structural dysfunction in organizations is widely visible across industries. Therefore, when the CEOs suppress feedback, they create many blind spots and void areas that lack knowledge and data that is crucial for the company. They are more likely to not care about the blind spot and so, employees do not even put the effort to flag it even if they notice. As a result, vulnerabilities get exposed and potential competitors try to exploit them.
What Can Help CEOs to Handle Constructive Criticism?
Breaking the cycle of suppressing negative feedback is important and therefore a mindset of ‘Lean Leadership’ must be adopted that is based on the principles of offering the best customer value while achieving continuous growth. The organization's leaders have only the goal to enhance growth in the company and therefore they seek honesty from both the customers as well as the employees. The leaders should constantly question themselves and their methods which shows room for improvement for the company.
Concluding Thoughts
Before changing the work culture of a company, it is important to change the mindset of the leaders who run the company. So, a CEO should never consider feedback negative but an opportunity to create more positive outcomes.
