the director was critical of the way we were doing the work的

您好,the director was critical of the way we were doing the work的意思是：负责人对于我们过去工作的方式很挑剔.这里 be critical of 可以表示“具有批判性”和“挑剔的”两种意思,这里显然用“挑剔的”这个意思更好.