My husband loves to label me this.
He’ll deliver a point in the most offensive way possible.
I’ll attack him back, and then he’ll say, “See! You’re killing the messenger again.”
🙄
But here’s my argument.
Even if the message is true, the delivery matters!
You can tell someone, “You’ve messed this up. Don’t you ever learn?!”
Or you can say, “I noticed a mistake here. Let’s go through it again so you don’t repeat it.”
Instead of creating defensiveness, we want to create learning!
Anyway, as leaders (or HR), we often have to deliver messages people don’t want to hear too.
Discipline… Policy changes… Negative feedback…
If we deliver without empathy, people won’t hear the content but only the tone.
And then… they’ll kill the messenger!
Happy weekend, everybody! Remember to package the truth. If you don’t want to be shot as the messenger, thou shalt deliver with empathy, and thy message shall be received.
Gitu.
xoxoxo, AuntyHR
