Alienated your team? Here's how to regain their trust

Receiving negative feedback as a leader can be challenging, but reframing feedback as opportunities for growth can remove the emotional response, leadership coach Bill Pullen writes. Leaders who show a healthy response to feedback also model how other workers in the organization should respond when they receive feedback that has a sting.

Put it into practice: Take a deep breath before responding to feedback from a place of emotional hurt. "It's a natural human tendency to feel defensive or threatened when our self-perception is challenged," Pullen says.

Create a sense of connection among your team by being curious and empathetic and asking questions that show you want to hear from them and that you value what they have to say, says Riaz Meghji, human connection speaker and author. "Now more than ever, it's important to double down on these aspects, on these touch points where people feel, 'I can still speak up. My voice is still going to be heard. My leaders care about me,'" Riaz says.

A Dutch research team has introduced a 3D model called an "organ-on-a-chip" to study snake venom's impact on blood vessels, aiming to reduce animal testing, according to a study in Scientific Reports. Research shows how different venoms affect blood vessels, with some destroying cell membranes and others breaking down molecular bonds, but the toxin could serve as a source for potential medical breakthroughs.

I was in my late teens when I landed my first radio news reporter job. My news director was five years older than me, but he had also been doing the job for at least five years longer than I had. I was pretty green, and more frequently than not, he would shove my news copy back across the desk and bark, "Rewrite it."

That was the extent of his feedback. I would ask questions, and he would clarify a few things, but honestly, going back to my typewriter (yes, you read that right) and taking a fresh approach helped me become both a better news writer and a writer in general.

His guidance helped in some way, because years later, when I was in the main newsroom at CNN writing news copy, I learned to love feedback even more. After I wrote my story, I would follow it to the copy desk and watch as they hacked and slashed my story until it looked nothing like the original. I asked for specific feedback and heeded it until I could send almost completely clean copy to the editors.

Getting angry or defensive when someone offers you good, honest feedback only hurts you. My first editor's gruff feedback and the slash-and-burn editing of CNN editors probably would have discouraged me if I hadn't been determined to impress them in some way and get better in the process.

You should disregard any feedback meant to discourage or hurt you. It's easy to tell the difference. Those offering undercutting feedback will make you feel small. Those who intend to help you improve will offer advice to reveal the potential in yourself that they see and want you to bring forward. Be thankful for them!

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