This is yet another topic on the series of topics on decision making . It is sugarcoating information that is negative in nature or can have a bad effect. As it can contort the facts it can have a significant impact in decision making. Whilst it may not be a lie, it may not be truth either. dealing with multiple shades of grey much of the truth relies on interpretation and may subject the interpreter to making bad decisions.

What is Sugarcoating :

In a medical sense sugarcoating is done to a pill to mask its colour, odour and taste, to protect it and ensure it gets effective in the environment its is needed in.

In life it acts in a similar manner, it works  is a decision aid that helps in manipulating emotional reaction and sensitivity to disclosures while making you feel good. The flip side is if you sugarcoat the wrong pill it will obviously result in wrongful outcome i.e feedback that will make your circumstances worse. 

In real world facts are validated subjectively and repackaged to be shared with others. The subjectivity can contort the message and when repackaged or tailored to suit the audience, it may not be first for purpose. Sometimes instead of saying “It’s a bad idea” we tend to trained to say “this idea may not work” or “I do not fully concur with idea” or “does your idea take in consideration A, B and C” .

• You should be careful of any sugarcoated advice or information. Sometimes it is done such that the one providing wrongful advice secretly wishes you to fail.

• Sugarcoating also prevails when the information is reported through many levels of management ( the levels were designed to suit requirements for the Industrial Age, however some organisations in the Information Age are finding it hard to do away with). At times managing upwards may simply suggest sugarcoating is in full action. I recall when one of my clients had outsourced work overseas, every time she called, the overseas team very confidently said, we are making good progress. Frustrated with no outcome and deadline looming, she asked them to submit the work in the state it was to her surprise, they have not even started. Later she realised that the good progress simply meant that they were getting close to understanding the issue and how to solve the problem rather than providing a solution. Fed through multiple levels of hierarchy in the outsourced team she as receiving the information that was true, sounded good however not useful.

Respecting situation and things the way they are, helps prepare for consequences. This may be a judgment call, however overlaying a thick layer of subjectivity in the interpretation may lead to communication failure, relationship failure or bad decisions.

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Sameer Babbar