It’s tough to be in the orbit of someone who is frantic and disorganized. It’s even more challenging when they’re unwilling to see how their behavior impacts others. However, I’ll start by acknowledging that your team member’s response to your critique is pretty common.
Several years ago, we surveyed 455 people to better understand how they respond to harsh feedback. Unsurprisingly, we found that 9 out of 10 said they were shocked and stunned when they received harsh feedback. The interesting data surfaced when we asked people whether they’d welcome the feedback if it were delivered in a careful and compassionate way.