How do you deal with workplace dabblers and kibitzers?

Communication professionals are subjected to landfills’ worth of unsolicited feedback.

Unlike the unfettered folks in IT, who go about shoring up firewalls and thwarting mysterious hackers without much oversight or interference, communicators face far more scrutiny—and unwanted advice.

“It’s just writing, right?” Not quite, but the subjective, creative nature of our work does lend itself to a cavalcade of not-always-helpful ideas, kibitzes and nudges from the corporate peanut gallery.

Does any of this sound familiar? We’ve written about meddling “communication dabblers” before, but what’s the best way to handle these irritating interlopers? How can you keep Tinkering Tinas and Opinionated Orsons at bay?

Taking the high road

Martin Munguia, a communicator with Community Transit in Washington, concedes, “It’s always a challenge to not flippantly say, ‘Hey, how about you don’t do my job and I won’t do yours?’”

A better approach, he says, is to prove your expertise.