Interesting piece from Fred Wilson:
If you think about what you are trying to accomplish in a meeting with someone you are managing and you plot the following:
- On the x axis - whether you clearly communicated the issue to the person
- On the y axis - whether they walk out of the meeting happy or mad at you
Dick's point is you want to optimize for the x axis, clear and crisp communication, and not worry too much about the y axis.
This is definitely something I've been struggling with as a manager and still need to improve on. It's more important to care (and communicate) about what's right for the organization than to try and make people happy. In the end, employees will derive more happiness from working at a well-run company than by well-intended (but misguided) managers.
Added to my list of good resolutions for 2014!