Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook in this video mentioned two most important point of being honest while stay remain the “polite” manner we’ve been trained to do.
- Being Open and Respectful: Communicate with an open mind and respect other’s opinion and belief’s is allowing more space in the room to express the ideas, by doing so, it will remove the lies from the polite manner we being trained to do but still hearing the truths
- “Play the Player Not Victim”: Stop using the passive voice! Instead, actively taking responsibility over to ourselves can empower us to have more control of the situation.
I’m agree with the idea that that she brought up during the speech that we conformed to the society and act politely, however, I don’t understand how being polite can hindered the truth or became the factor of not allowing the room to have different voice. Set this concept aside, I think I completely agree with her in building a authentic communication requires a safe space where where people is comfortable sharing their ideas. There are more to being open and respectful by just saying “here’s my thoughts, what do you think?”
People is reading the room all the time!
According to Harvard’s Professional Development Website, the nonverbal communication and the tone plays a big role in the communication too, it can directly affect other people’s openness to talk. The facial expression, gestures, and body language often says more than words, it is 65% to 93% more effective when conveying the message. Remember the time when you speak to someone you important, if they had a poker face, you will probably starting wondering which part went wrong, but if they are nodding their head here and there when you speak, you will gain much more confident. This is the power of nonverbal communication, it is something we as human will consistently looking for cues of agreeableness to build our own confidence. Therefore, it is important for us to make sure our nonverbal communication is align with our words, otherwise it will create confusion and it will be hard for other to remain an authentic communication.
Take the Initiative is beneficial!
I really liked her second point of be the player not victim. Taking the responsibility during work not just empower yourself to have a sense of control but it can also motivate ones’ to improve themselves. According to Harvard Business Review, it stated that people who are more proactive tends to be better in work performance, contributing to work, and more innovative. It is not just beneficial to work but in out life too!
I appreciated how you laid out all your points in this blog, though (particularly) your comment on how politeness shouldn’t hinder the truth was eye-catching. It’s very true that in an ideal world people should maintain the same level of honesty while being polite. In this day and age, it just doesn’t seem to be the case and society often conflate the two; so that being honest is being too rude. In my experience I can definitely say that has been the case for me, I typically hold my tongue out of fear that I’ll be “brutally” honest. The expression itself shows how society villainizes this concept. At the end of all this, I just have to ask you if you think this perception will change? With society progressing there is a heavy mindset to be cautious and wary of others emotions, though will this only set back how we communicate?
I love that you included the people should be able to share their thoughts in a safe space and even included an example of how to do this politely. I think nowadays people take things to personally, even if the criticism is constructive. I can admit that I have fallen victim to this idea as I don’t take criticism well. Why do you feel people that are more proactive tend to have better work performance?