Re: responding to negative feedback, I agree with your points and suggestions - I wish I could always phrase my questions in this way. However, I sometimes find that I receive feedback from superiors at work who would definitely be offended by the wording of the responses (i.e. immediately interpret them as smart-assery or passive aggression, largely because this form of clear communication isn't a cultural norm in most corporate spaces, and professional dominance hierarchies unfortunately appear to influence the degree of earnest truth-seeking one is "allowed" to pursue in conversation). Is there a way to ask these in a different way, such that I can elicit reasonable and good-faith reactions from people with big egos?
Re: responding to negative feedback, I agree with your points and suggestions - I wish I could always phrase my questions in this way. However, I sometimes find that I receive feedback from superiors at work who would definitely be offended by the wording of the responses (i.e. immediately interpret them as smart-assery or passive aggression, largely because this form of clear communication isn't a cultural norm in most corporate spaces, and professional dominance hierarchies unfortunately appear to influence the degree of earnest truth-seeking one is "allowed" to pursue in conversation). Is there a way to ask these in a different way, such that I can elicit reasonable and good-faith reactions from people with big egos?