Double messages can be defined as saying one thing while communicating something else. A double message can be communicated unintentionally, without knowing such as misleading body posture, or wrong attitude; on the other hand, the double messages can be provided with proper clarification and causes no harm from both sides. Double messages can be a part of cultural behavior, where different culture is more appreciative, and critiques come in a formal nicer package, and receiver face difficulties to understand the meaning. Or maybe attitude towards a certain issue, where senders are obligated to take some actions to follow company culture, but not totally agree with the decision. I’ve faced such a situation many times where I had to make decisions based on the company’s instruction, but I have a strong bias for the other option. Such as Inventory audit. Managers are rated based on inventory accuracy, but the company prioritizes customer engagement and sales. While I’ve asked employees to provide the best guest service as the main focus, but I designed the tasks to keep them mostly on inventory management. At some point, I felt dissatisfied and misunderstanding; I clarified the intention and consequences. Providing them the reason for the double messages helped to follow my instructions, where I said what the company wanted me to say, but did what I needed to do to grow as a successful manager.

I provided double messages mostly while providing deliberate feedback, and I am improving very slowly. I always take an appreciative approach focusing on individual’s strengths, hoping they will get better on the negative side. Because it’s always uncomfortable to critique face to face for poor performance. In many cases, I said they are doing bad works, but tried to save face while communicating, which ended up in difficulties. I understand my weakness in delivering the right message at times, and I am working on getting better at it. The seven principles of deliberate feedback would be helpful for me to follow while providing feedback. I am learning as I gather more experiences in providing feedback, it’s often easier to provide feedback to supervisors than employees working on the team.