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Being polite in a world of shifting priorities? Maybe they fully intended to dedicate time to it but another emergency/high priority pushes it down again. Or th
by misnome 8y ago
Being polite in a world of shifting priorities? Maybe they fully intended to dedicate time to it but another emergency/high priority pushes it down again. Or they want to work on it, and don't want it to be taken away, but haven't had the time yet.
All of these seem more charitable, and contribute less to a toxic work environment, than automatically assuming that all of your colleagues are manipulative, dense or flaky because they have more important things to do.
- ared38 8y agoWhile I agree jumping to the conclusion that they're unreliable and flaky is ridiculous, being "polite" like that does no one any favors. Just be honest and explain you've been caught up with higher priority issues and haven't made progress. That gives the asker an opportunity to explain why the task is more important than you thought, find someone else with less on their plate to do it, or at the very least understand what's taking so long.