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Venkatesh-Prasad Ranganath
Venkatesh-Prasad Ranganath

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Donts and Dos for Conversations (and Interactions)

  1. Don’t equate modesty with lack of expertise.
  2. Don’t equate chattiness with expertise.
  3. Don’t equate silence with lack of leadership.
  4. Don’t equate loudness with leadership.
  5. Don’t equate directness with rudeness.
  6. Don’t equate questions with insubordination.
  7. Don’t equate questions with disagreement.
  8. Don’t equate politeness with agreement.
  9. Don’t be a time hog.
  10. Don’t wing it. Be prepared.
  11. Be considerate.
  12. Don’t be submissive.
  13. Don’t be domineering.
  14. Don’t jump to conclusion. Instead, seek clarification.
  15. Have a conversation — listen, reason, speak, repeat.
  16. Don’t interrupt when someone is speaking.

That's it for now :)

Top comments (4)

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jhotterbeekx profile image
John Hotterbeekx

A lot of points seem like don't be extreme in one direction or the other. Although I agree with most of the points, they all seem dependent on the situation. There are no black and white rules for this, maybe sometimes you need to wing it, sometimes you might need to interrupt someone. The key is being aware of the people around you and of how you treat them. I think all of this can be summarized into try and be a decent human being and behave professionally

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rvprasad profile image
Venkatesh-Prasad Ranganath

The first part of the list is about wrong assumptions (fallacies) we commit during conversations/interactions. The second part is about good practices to have a productive conversations/interactions. I prefer a list (albeit a non-exhaustive one) as it helps identify specific aspects, e.g., chattiness.

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rvprasad profile image
Venkatesh-Prasad Ranganath • Edited

Being competent in CS will help very little in a conversation with a Biologist. Being attentive does not mean that I will not interrupt. Holding back questions trying to be nice is not helpful either.

I think the qualities you mention are necessary but not sufficient (just like what I have listed) :)

 
rvprasad profile image
Venkatesh-Prasad Ranganath

What you say should be true but it isn't in many situations due to aspects such as listener's culture, seniority of speaker, and (as you say) power imbalance.