3 ms·

This seems a bit superficial, because it concentrates only how you communicate an instruction to people. I suspect, especially in high competence and nominally

by ska 3y ago

This seems a bit superficial, because it concentrates only how you communicate an instruction to people. I suspect, especially in high competence and nominally high trust environments like (much of) tech, mostly when people consider a superior "bossy" it's not because of the way they communicate (though that could contribute) but because they do not trust the communication or the motivations behind it, or question why they (the boss) are getting involved at all. To put it another way, if there is a high degree of trust anyway you are likely forgiven a harsher communication style, but if the the trust isn't there no amount of wordsmithing that will improve it. That being said, poor communication styles will ruffle feathers and cause problems, and if you are leading people you should learn to do this better. I just don't think that's at the heart of what being considered "bossy" is, so working on it won't likely fix that.

roenxi 3y ago
I'd put that the author hasn't managed people in a multicultural team before. It quickly becomes apparent that there is a cultural component to communication style that changes language expectations by a lot. And at the end of the day word choice doesn't matter much. There is a deeper aspect to watch which is response over time - "tracking what does the boss say to me?" as it transforms into "What are the consequences later on?". A big part of being "bossy" IMO is creating consequences for getting trivial instructions wrong.
kevinmchugh 3y ago
Similarly (and at risk of focusing too much on the example), in a high competency and high trust environment, identifying a task as quotidian as taking out the trash ought to be pretty rare. If you have a bunch of highly capable professionals, they shouldn't need commanding and they should be pretty capable of keeping their workspace functional.
goodpoint 3y ago
Not just superficial but even manipulative.

by ska 3y ago

roenxi 3y ago

I'd put that the author hasn't managed people in a multicultural team before. It quickly becomes apparent that there is a cultural component to communication style that changes language expectations by a lot. And at the end of the day word choice doesn't matter much. There is a deeper aspect to watch which is response over time - "tracking what does the boss say to me?" as it transforms into "What are the consequences later on?". A big part of being "bossy" IMO is creating consequences for getting trivial instructions wrong.

kevinmchugh 3y ago

Similarly (and at risk of focusing too much on the example), in a high competency and high trust environment, identifying a task as quotidian as taking out the trash ought to be pretty rare. If you have a bunch of highly capable professionals, they shouldn't need commanding and they should be pretty capable of keeping their workspace functional.

goodpoint 3y ago

Not just superficial but even manipulative.