I always thought being blunt was the same as being honest until a work meeting last Friday.

We were reviewing a shipping error that cost us about $400 in rework, and I just laid into the new guy's process in front of everyone. My boss pulled me aside after and said, 'You can tell the truth without using it as a weapon.' That stuck with me. I'm trying to give feedback that's direct but not destructive now. Has anyone else had to learn that difference the hard way?

3 comments

3 Comments

oscar6669d ago

Hold up, that's a dangerous mix-up. A sharp wake-up call in private works, but public shame just makes people hide mistakes. You can be clear about the cost without breaking someone's spirit.

paigesullivan14d ago

Gotta disagree a bit. Sometimes a $400 mistake needs a sharp wake up call. If you sugar coat everything, people don't learn the real cost of errors. The new guy probably won't make that same process slip again. Being a weapon isn't the goal, but soft words can just bounce right off.

alex_nguyen14d ago

Four hundred bucks is a lot but was it really a process slip or just a guy having a bad day? I've seen way worse get shrugged off.