I noticed that many people confuse being diplomatic with not being honest or not having the power to say what you think. While in reality, being diplomatic is not about that.
This is why I decided to write an entire article about whether diplomacy is good or bad and what being diplomatic actually means.
My personal observation is that people consider way more “cool” and “impressive” to be direct or blunt compared to being diplomatic, and at the same time, most of them are rather diplomatic or even overly polite.
In my opinion, the truth is somewhere in between, you have to be adaptable and understand when the situation asks for you to be blunt or when you should be more diplomatic since there are situations when not getting this right might have a disastrous result. Being blunt with your boss is not as good as being blunt with a good friend.
Is being diplomatic good or bad?
Being more diplomatic is good most of the time since there are many situations in which you can say your opinion directly but be careful with the words you use to not upset people around you.
Not being able to understand that how you say things matter it’s a sign of not being emphatic and considerate with people around you.
For example, there is a difference between telling someone their clothes are ugly and saying that their clothes are inappropriate or not suited for the event you are going to.
You might obtain the same result but without hurting the other person’s feelings as much.
Being diplomatic means that you are able to say what you think but in a more considerate way because you don’t want to unnecessarily upset people around you, which is good, in my opinion. We should not upset each other unnecessarily.
Read Also: Is Being Stubborn Good Or Bad?
Does being diplomatic makes you fake or a liar?
Being diplomatic can be interpreted as being fake, but it is not. If you talk about the same thing but use more carefully selected words, that doesn’t mean that you are lying or fake.
Being overly polite might make you fake because overly polite people will say only what the other person wants to hear, even if they don’t believe that so much.
When is it ok to be diplomatic, and when is it not?
Most of the time, it is ok to be more diplomatic than blunt, but there are certain situations when being diplomatic just doesn’t do it for you.
Some people just don’t treat diplomatic people too seriously, and you might have to be blunter in those cases. You have to be careful in those situations because it might be their fault because they don’t understand when you are serious if you are not being rude, but it might also be your fault because you are too polite rather than diplomatic.
So, I believe that being too diplomatic with close or best friends is not the way to go, but you have to be at least a bit diplomatic since you don’t want to upset them for no reason.
When we talk about circumstantial friendships, casual friends, or other professional relationships, being more diplomatic will always help since that means that you will still say what you think but in a more respectful way.
As I said, make sure you don’t confuse being diplomatic with being overly polite, and people around you will respect you.
How to be more diplomatic?
In order to be more diplomatic, you have to pay more attention to people around you to know what might upset them.
This is a good habit on its own since paying more attention to people around you will make you more emphatic, which is a great trait to have. It will also help you better understand them and know how to talk with each person, this is what makes assertive people so attractive.
When you do this on purpose, you will gain a habit of thinking about the person in front of you before talking, and this will help you to better choose your words without actively thinking about that.
Unfortunately, there is no magic formula that will show you how to express what you think without upsetting anyone so this is something that most of us learn by trial and error. Sometimes you might upset people, and sometimes you might not say exactly what you think by trying not to upset them, but it is a skill you can work on.
Many people will hide under the saying”People have to accept me as I am” when it comes to developing this skill. However, that is a sure way to have fewer and not-so-great friendships/relationships with people around you.
Yes, people will like you as you are, but that doesn’t mean that you should be rude or not improve yourself.
Read Also: Is Asking Too Many Questions In Conversation Bad Or Annoying?
Conclusion
Being diplomatic is good as long as you are not becoming overly polite or you stop saying what you really think. This is especially important at work or in professional environments because you don’t want to upset anybody there, but you want to be noticed for who you are, so you have to say what you think but be diplomatic about it.
I hope this article helped you and showed you that being diplomatic is not a bad think since it has quite a bad reputation, while being blunt or too direct seems to have a good reputation and can have disastrous outcomes.
