What Specifically?
(Elin’s office, Thursday, ten past four. Jamal has one page of notes.)
Elin: Right. Your feedback for the new analyst. Read me the first line.
Jamal: Communication needs improvement.
Elin: What specifically?
Jamal: He doesn’t communicate well.
Elin: That’s the same sentence with the words moved around.
Jamal: It’s a review, not a novel.
Elin: Nobody has ever successfully changed anything because somebody told them to communicate more. Try again.
Jamal: Okay. He typically waits too long to tell people when something’s late.
Elin: Better. How long?
Jamal: Two days. Three.
Elin: Which one?
Jamal: Three. On the Halifax report it was three.
Elin: There it is. Next line.
Jamal: He isn’t necessarily a team player.
Elin: Meaning what?
Jamal: Meaning people find him difficult.
Elin: Which people?
Jamal: Mostly me.
Elin: Then write that. Not that he’s difficult. Write that on the Halifax report you found out on Thursday that something had been late since Monday, and you had to tell the client yourself.
Jamal: That sounds worse.
Elin: It sounds true. He can do something about true. He can’t do anything about not a team player.
Jamal: Fine.
Elin: Last one. Can you summarize the whole thing in one sentence he could act on tomorrow morning?
Jamal: Tell me the same day, even if it isn’t fixed yet.
Elin: That’s the review. The rest is decoration.
Jamal: That took eleven minutes.
Elin: So. How was this session?
Jamal: It was fine.
Elin: Jamal.
Jamal: Specifically: you asked me the same question six times, and I hated the fourth one.
Elin: And?
Jamal: And the sixth one worked.
Elin: See. You just did it.
Jamal: Don’t put that in my review.