Why Sometimes We Miss Out The 'SHORTEST DISTANCE'?

 

Very early on in my career, I was frequently hesitant to be direct with people, lest they think I am either too aggressive or impolite with my words.  BUT alas, did that ever get beaten out of me in the hard way?  As I was NOT the only one though.  I then realized that culture is a factor [as it is in our local culture, you have to circumvent [and maybe take whole round trip] and gather your strength before having that gumption to SAY WHAT YOU WANT albeit diluted and probably significantly 'watered down'.  SHORTEST DISTANCE BETWEEN 2 POINTS IS A STRAIGHT LINE💥💥💥

Fast-forward, I have to admit that I did go through that kind of unconscious transformation, from that traditional 'nice guy' to a strong, direct communicator [without being a 'NOT' nice guy though].   True, some leaders have developed a comfort with direct communications.  Some of them speak clearly, saying WHAT they want to say confidently and neither do they mince words nor wrap their words fluff💧💧💧

BUT alas, many leaders still DON'T.  BUT let's NOT drive on that to a fault because indirect communications is the default for most people, so WHEN some of us would want to say something important, sometimes we DON'T get directly to that 'very point'.  Instead, we tend to set ourselves up with a few preceding points OR say almost WHAT we mean to say using many words instead of just the few and essential ones, hoping that the listener will be able to figure out his intended message.  If the other person DOESN'T intuit the speaker's intent by either effort OR sheer magic, that kind of indirect communication will likely lead to resentment OR at the very least, a communication gap💚💛💜

End result?  That communications gap may even lead to that unnecessary frustration and WHICH further obfuscates WHAT's really going on.  In a circus mirror attempt at being nice OR at least being perceived as being nice by NOT saying anything too harsh, the 'INDIRECT' speaker risks saying MANY words, communicating NOTHING and having both parties less connected with each other and with reality, for the effort😴😴😴

Our takeaway:  Let's align here right now.  NOBODY was born knowing HOW to communicate.  We learn HOW to communicate, the words we say, HOW we use OR are used even in silence, HOW directly we approach WHAT we mean, and even HOW we pronounce words.  Bottom line is that indirect communications is NOT just NOT nice BUT ineffective.  Have we forgotten that the SHORTEST DISTANCE BETWEEN 2 POINTS IS A STRAIGHT LINE???