I am so leading edge! A few days ago I wrote about The Role of "Niceness" in the Workplace and today I saw this great article from the jobdig.com site on the same topic. Check out How nice are you? by Joan Lloyd. She points out that bright, achieving individuals will usually prefer the truth over "niceness" and concludes by saying:
Being "too nice" doesn't help anyone. Do your part to build a responsible, respectful, and trusting environment. And usually the straight line to that is by speaking the truth—sometimes even if it hurts."
What do you think?
My thoughts - people may not always remember what you said but they will remember how you made them feel.
This does not mean that one cannot speak the truth - just make sure how you are making them feel as this is done - the qualities that you mention - trust, respect and responsibility also need to factor into this.
Fake niceness does no one any good and people can see through it. It is also a de-motivator to others when poor performers are "treated nice" and not held accountable.
Posted by: LN | December 07, 2006 at 09:43 AM