More often than not, I’ve been noticing that we are losing basic skills regarding the interaction with humans. For example, we can no longer properly reply to a question.
I dare you to make a small analysis around you.
Take a look at your friends, families, colleagues, managers or simply people on
TV, how often do they reply to what was actually asked in the question?
To my mind, you’ll be surprised with the
result. Fewer and fewer people seem to understand and cultivate the need for
clarity, but also the respect towards the time of the interlocutor.
I know, of course, that not answering
directly to a question is a strategy, especially applied in politics, but also
in other domains where one is not allowed to give certain information and one
must embellish keywords with platitudes.
It seems to me that we have assimilated
instead all the things that we laughed about in an old video about a person not
being able to ask a question, and we no longer can simply reply to a question.
We just beat around the bush until or if somebody stops us.
My suggestions?
Firstly, to listen. To not fill in the
blanks ourselves with the things we believe the interlocutor wants to ask us,
and to stop and concentrate on their words.
Secondly, to realise that by answering
directly to someone we actually show them respect, and we also value their time
and ours.
Thirdly, if we do not know the answer to a question, we should admit as much. It’s hard, I know, to admit that one doesnot know. But nothing conveys the message that one is a responsible person than this, showing respect to the interlocutor and also not given them untrue information.
Nobody deserves to be disinformed just to make it easier on ourselves to not admit not knowing or because we mistakenly fear that admitting one does not know something is a weakness.
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