At the airport I saw an ad that promised to “remove 1-star reviews” from what I assume would be a restaurant’s Google or Yelp ratings. While I have questions about the authenticity of the review process in general, the advertisement immediately got me wishing that there was a way to remove negative feedback, or negative self-talk that I have for my own life.
It does feel like life would be way easier if we could just remove all the pressures of people pleasing and imposter syndrome we constantly worry about.
However, after a few more minutes of thinking, I realized the opposite should be true: we shouldn’t be removing and ignoring 1-star reviews but rather using them as valuable insight into ways to improve.
Think about your favorite, locally-owned restaurant, and imagine that their “to-go” process is horrible:
- There’s no designated parking spots for to-go orders.
- Customers wait in line with everyone else dining-in to pick-up and pay for their food.
- The food is cold because it’s packaged in non-insulated containers and was left out on the counter, etc.
The business owner would likely get plenty of 1-star reviews from those ordering take-out. They could easily ignore or remove them simply by saying, “take-out is just 5% of our revenue, so it doesn’t matter too much.”
But suddenly, COVID happens and flips every restaurant to a take-out only operation – do you think the owner wishes they had paid attention to those 1-star reviews?
Making Negative Feedback Constructive through Change
It’s very normal to ignore or eliminate negative feedback. But, what if we could shift how we view the feedback from “negative” to “constructive”?
It’s just a slight change, but it might help us to see blind spots, take action on easy fixes, and potentially understand our skills even better.
Even more, it will help us understand which 1-star reviews we are capable of controlling, and which are out of our hands. The restaurant owner cannot control COVID and the restrictions due to COVID, but they can reserve spots in the parking lot, create a separate door for to-go orders, and order insulated boxes for food orders – all probably with just a few hours worth of work.
Change takes time, energy and the willingness to try. Building small steps that improve your life, employees’ mental health, and business, which is why we focus on preventative care for people’s mental health with Joyages.
Want to take a first test run of Joyages? Watch one of my favorite Joyages videos from Dr. Brent Taylor on “Taking the First Step to Change Your Life”.
Have questions about how you can bring Joyages to your business? Reach out to us today!
