criticism is one part, the general and the overall concept is to get feedback. I remember when i started my job, the chief engineer , who is a very wise man, made one thing clear to me that he would give constant feedbacks for the first few months, once i am comfortable i have to come back to ask for feedbacks. This he said is very important for improving. The company even worked on a concept of 360 degree feedback where an employee's growth was decided basis on the overall feedback from his peers and cross functional teams.

nice article