When someone in authority

[GenericGenius]

tries to pull the wool over your eyes with wishy washy 'management speak' without saying anything but trying to throw you off your track in order not to answer your concernsand bury the issue.......

How do you cut through this sort of speak?

I have to conduct a difficult conversation at work with a manager from another department this morning. They are known to totally minimise what you say, by waffling, hiding behind so called policies (without sticking to them) and not answering questions honestly / directly. Sound bites basically.

How do keep your cool and how do you keep on track with your original point without feeling frustrated and pursuing the topic?

Can anyone advise?

No advice but is this the NHS by any chance sounds familiar

"Sorry, that wasn't the question I asked you"

Not sure of exact situation so idk if this is relevant but can you write down your questions and try to write down the answers they give. If you can't summarise their answer then evidently they haven't answered well enough so keep going back to to the original question... Would that help?

Sorry - completely missed the bit about the manager!

The summarising but still might work though. "So, in summary, I asked xyz, and your reply was utter twaddle. I don't fully understand the link, can you maybe explain in more straight forward language language?"

I know exactly what you mean! I think you just need to not be embarrassed, and to keep asking them what that actually means in practical terms.

It's like a politician's non-answer 🙄.

Thank you . The conversation went better than expected, I felt encouraged by the above posts . Lots of waffling but some decent information sharing too!

Next I'll sign up for an assertiveness at work course.

Well done!