Disrupt patterns of generalities

People retreat into generalities when they want to ward you off areas they’re uncomfortable with. “Oh, you know, we’re getting there.” Fair enough, but if you’re the boss and you need insight into how a project is going, you’ll need to insist on specifics.

If you meet generalities and clichés with more generalities and clichés, you may find you’re just reinforcing a pattern.

Statements like “time is slipping away”, “we’re bogging down” and “just get on with it”, are likely to be met defensively with “we’re doing all we can”, “you don’t know what it’s like”, and “it’s complicated”.

One way to disrupt patterns of generalities is to be non-confrontational, but specific.

So you could say: “In four days I need to tell the board how this is going. If I can’t give them convincing information, they’re going to think I’m leading us into a black hole. I really want to show them we’ve got this in hand, so what can I tell them?”

Specifics defuse. The other knows now exactly what you need, so, hopefully, what should follow is a purposeful chat.

This is a feedback technique, essential to delegation.