Richard Hanney, Head of Strategy and Creative Copy at ilk, discusses how to get over the initial sting of creative criticism and turn it into a productive force.
In a creative agency – and most workplaces to various extents – creative criticism is part of the everyday; a healthy and necessary part of doing good work. And it is, no doubt. But just because a rational part of you knows that, it doesn’t mean you don’t have to find a way to manage the emotional side. In the vast majority of cases you will have done your best and, as such, what you are presenting reflects your judgement, your thinking and, most delicately, your talent.
From a personal perspective, it’s the biggest single challenge of working within a creative team. My default response to criticism is to get angry – not in a shouty way, but in a silent seethe. I then rely on another fundamental tenet of my personality – the terror of ‘making a scene’ – to ensure that I get through the situation without making my furious and embarrassing lack of emotional maturity any more obvious than my clenched, red face already has.
