An aside to an email discussion we were having provoked DarkWaterMuse to post his thoughts on the matter:
Diplomacy is a major cause of workplace inefficiency. Mostly, it doesn’t actually matter how things get said.
dwm tends to say whatever is rattling around at the top of his head. Too often what rattles around up there then manages to roll down mysterious passageways carved throughout his brain before it tumbles off the tip of his tongue.
Sometimes the words that escape just lay there, stunned and motionless on the floor, as other people in earshot simply glare at them.
Even worse though is when dwm doesn’t say anything at all. That probably means either there’s a log jam of words building up pressure inside his head, a clear sign of imminent unbounded and unpredictable cranial flatulence, or he’s mentally undressing one of the women who happens to be trapped in the same meeting room.
dwm has never really appreciated the need for diplomacy. Especially when there’s clearly work to be done. He subscribes to the notion that people like to be part of success, however it manages to manifest.
As it turns out, diplomacy isn’t necessary for success. It’s just necessary to manage the people who aren’t focused on it.
I’m not convinced, as I’ve found diplomacy to be one of the most frequently used “tools” in my arsenal. I suspect DarkWaterMuse, as primarily a “producer” of essentially original content has less functional need for the social lubricant of careful wording than someone like me (a “consumer” if you will), who generally requires the active co-operation of others to provide me with the raw material I happen to need to accomplish my tasks.
His point about diplomacy being “a major cause of workplace inefficiency” would more closely hit the mark if he were using it to describe weasel wording rather than diplomacy. As Sir Humphrey Appleby says “A good Civil Servant must be able to use language not as a window into the mind but as a curtain to draw across it.” What is ideal for a civil servant is toxic for good working relationships in non-bureaucratic environments.
Diplomacy is merely the ugly whoring younger sister of leadership. When you live in the anarchy formed by most make-believe managed workplaces then dwm concedes it may be easier to play the part of Peter Pan rather than Genghis Khan. Know this, Genghis would kick Peter’s magic star sputtering ass anyday of the week.
Comment by darkwatermuse — February 10, 2011 @ 12:51
According to recent genetic studies, Genghis was too busy sleeping with Wendy (and every other female in sight) to pay attention to less-than-existential-threats like Peter Pan.
Comment by Nicholas — February 10, 2011 @ 12:58
Ah, yes, Wendy, the ever so traditional name of all strikingly blonde Mongol women. But Wendy serves my needs today as well as she serviced the needs of our beloved Genghis during his time: why fret about such trivial matters as spritely young men prancing about in leotards when one can so easily crush them into pixie dust?
Comment by darkwatermuse — February 10, 2011 @ 13:33