I was not sure how to approach my response. I felted as if I could not defend myself. I thought many times that this person now had a bad impression of my work and me. I asked myself the question, “How can I erase that bad image when I cannot communicate on a face-to-face level?”

That evening, I really thought long and hard about the person’s comments. When I started my next workday, I decided to not send the person an email apologizing for my work or giving some excuse for my mistakes. Instead, I decided to go through the person’s comments, as hard as that was, and apply them to my work. Then, I resubmitted it for review. When I resubmitted the work, I included a message that thanked the person for the feedback and appreciated the comments, as it would allow me to grow in my position.

When I saw a reply from the person in my Inbox, I was nervous but surprised to see a wonderful response. I resisted the urge to defend myself and applied that energy into my work. By showing someone you can take negative criticism, you show them that you are willing to learn and improve yourself. I did learn that I do not need to face a person to change their opinion of me. All I need to do is show my skills through my work.