hn_throwaway_99 4 days ago

I'm always curious when comment responders glom on to the least important part of a comment and dissect it to no end. I took "is described in basically every handbook on highly effective communication in organizations." as essentially "the standard for communication in effective organizations is to be direct and to the point." It did not warrant a "SOURCES??!!" response IMO because it wasn't saying anything that was uniquely attributable.

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0xDEAFBEAD 4 days ago

The claim didn't ring true to me, based on what I've read about the topic in the past, or based on my personal thoughts and experiences. So I wanted a source. It should be easy to provide a source, if sources are as plentiful as lijok says.

>the standard for communication in effective organizations is to be direct and to the point.

Sounds very nice, but empirically humans often struggle with frank feedback. I think that goes for both subordinates and superiors, for different reasons.

I would argue it can be worthwhile to spend an additional 25% time to make it clear that it's nothing personal, to avoid risking a deterioration of your relationship.

Obviously, it's good to have friendly relations with your coworkers, including your boss.

If you have a high-trust relationship with your boss where there's no risk of deterioration, and you know your boss likes it when you speak your mind -- more power to you. Be direct and to the point.

joyeuse6701 4 days ago

I agree, I think there was a Buddhist analysis of conversation, right speech, which I find useful as a guide to giving and receiving information: Is it well intentioned? Is it kind? Is it timely? Is it beneficial? Is it true?

I suppose that if you can craft feedback with this criteria in mind it’ll have a high chance of going over well.