Question

Discuss an example of a time (or situation) when directness was appropriate in your response giving negative information. Why was it appropriate to use a direct response instead of an indirect response?

Answer 1

I always believe that direct approach is the best approach in communication as it is easy to decipher rather than indirect response because in indirect response the words may be deceptive in various cases but in business communication while conveying a negative information it is suggested to use indirect approach. There has been many instances where I have used indirect response but directness would have been appropriate and one such example is while conducting performance evaluation of an employee who had recently joined. I was aware that he is expecting a commendable rating and I actually was quite positive and appreciating him but finally gave him an average rating of met expectation which actually made him surprised because he thought that the appreciation that I gave regarding him qualifies him for a commendable rating. I think a direct approach would have been better because he was actually not aware of what is required in order to get a commendable rating but that would have lowered down his motivation level, hence I used the indirect approach.