04 Aug Do You Want to Sound Indecisive?
Maybe you do want to avoid committing to a statement, position, or opinion, but there’s a way to do so that makes your indecision clear and unambiguous.
“I’m not sure what I think about this, but…..”
If, however, indecision is not your goal, there is a phrase you can eliminate from your conversations. See if you can spot it in the following:
“We need to sort of evaluate our policies, so we can sort of get a grip on what people are sort of struggling with, and sort of monitor the things that are sort of getting in the way.”
Do you think this is an exaggeration? Listen up to the talk around you – listen to your own.
Consider the difference:
“We need to evaluate our policies, so we can get a grip on what people are struggling with, and monitor the things that are getting in the way.”
If you think the second version is too assertive, add “I think”, or “In my opinion”. Poking ‘sort of’ into every conversation becomes a habit, and soon there isn’t anything that can be said without this wishy-washy qualifier. It doesn’t make the speaker sound more collegial or agreeable, and it doesn’t make dealing with an issue any easier. It just makes the speaker sound squishy and without conviction, and who wants to deal with that person!
Need to be assertive without fear of offending? Check out our Assertiveness course.