Efficient or Not?

I have a question for my readers this week; which is a better trait, being a self-starter or being a great communicator?  I hope that I’ve picked the right words to describe my dilemma I’ll explain below.

This week I read a story, “A Message to Garcia” by Elbert Hubbard.  This story is about a man who is called upon to deliver a message.  He doesn’t ask any questions, he simply takes the message and sets about finding Garcia to deliver the message.

The article then spends the next 10 pages talking about how we just need to act, not question the why and how most corporations wish they had more self-starters.

Maybe I’ve been in the corporate world for too long, but this seems highly inefficient.  When a leader or customer asks you to do something it’s important to use good communication skills to find out if that person has any helpful information or maybe some action has already been done.  Is it efficient to reinvent the wheel that’s already been built?

Back to our story; the man that took the message could have asked, where have you already looked for Garcia or where was Garcia last seen?  Imagine that Garcia might have been found in hours instead of days.  What if this was a critical or time sensitive message and the Messenger, trying to instead be the hero, took precious time, just because they wouldn’t ask the right questions.

I get that we can’t always have all the information before we act.  We may also discover problems and should in that case be self-starters to get things done.  All too often though, there is a path before us and it would behoove us to ask prudent questions and communicate what is desired and what we can do.  This is the way of the modern world, and I for one, feel it’s a good change from Garcia’s Messenger.