A close friend of mine works as a freelance writer, taking on jobs here and there in copywriting as time (she’s also a mother) permits.
A few weeks ago she landed a huge account with a company that sells a certain product. The company is just one of a few of the same type of companies so they are in close competition vying for a select group of consumers.
At the start of the job she told me that she felt awkward speaking with the owner of the company because the owner, to her, seemed a bit smug and that she felt the owner was working against her rather than for her.
My friend wrote copy for one of their brochures. Rather than respond to what she had written with words of encouragement or words of unhappiness, the owner responded with something that he had written, and that was it. No explanation, no notes, just the letter and that was it.
Without knowing what the response was intended to be, my friend felt offended. She’d worked hard to provide a service for this company and in return had gotten no information-good or bad-back. She asked me how she was to know where she should go from there if the owner of the company couldn’t be direct in his dealings?
As I ran this morning I considered passive aggressiveness, and how this type of behavior really has no place in the workforce. Whether you are the owner of a company dealing with another company owner or you are an employee or boss dealing with others on site, it is important to be direct. If you have something to say, say it. If you are unhappy with what has been produced, state that, and explain why.
Had the owner of the company been direct, my friend would have understood why he was upset with what she had written and they could have moved forward from there. By being direct the owner could have saved each party involved a lot of time, which in turn saves money, of course. Time spent being passive aggressive is wasted time.
If you are dealing with people on the job, it is important that you be direct, even if you have a shy personality by nature. If you are unhappy with a job that someone has done, rather than skirt around the issue by making small hints, tell that person directly. Tell them why you are disappointed and what you think could have been done to make that job better.
Create a plan before you talk to the person. In that plan, outline what you had expected and why you feel the work produced fell short. Then offer helpful tips so that the person can produce better work the next time around. If you are constantly trying to hand hold someone you may need to reconsider that person for the job, but rather than keep them guessing about what it is that you feel they did wrong, just be direct. You’ll find that everyone is much more productive when you are.