Smart managers like analytical challengers, but the social skills are important too. People who are more interested in competition than collaboration are disruptive even if they're Right. If no one else wants to work with them because they're too confrontational, then it limits their utility: they can only be used on solo projects, of which there are very few in a company.
I work for people who ask hard questions, who look for the Right Answer. Since they don't make it personal, since it's not about Winning, it works very well. I say this as someone who's been subjected to those hard questions, and who hasn't always been Right.
They have immense respect, and they deserve it. The people who asked hard questions in a nasty way, who avoided the social graces, who pushed buttons instead of keeping it professional? They're gone, and that caused an improvement.
The "touchy-feely goodness" doesn't change the facts. It doesn't mean you back down from the truth. What it does is make the facts a lot more palatable to someone who has a lot of emotional investment in their own opinion, so they work with you instead of against you. It's not a zero sum game.
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Date: 2002-04-30 05:12 pm (UTC)I work for people who ask hard questions, who look for the Right Answer. Since they don't make it personal, since it's not about Winning, it works very well. I say this as someone who's been subjected to those hard questions, and who hasn't always been Right.
They have immense respect, and they deserve it. The people who asked hard questions in a nasty way, who avoided the social graces, who pushed buttons instead of keeping it professional? They're gone, and that caused an improvement.
The "touchy-feely goodness" doesn't change the facts. It doesn't mean you back down from the truth. What it does is make the facts a lot more palatable to someone who has a lot of emotional investment in their own opinion, so they work with you instead of against you. It's not a zero sum game.