2024 Week 34 of 52 65% Candour

The ability to be empathetically candid is a critical team skill, yet easy to get wrong. It involves putting forward a clear point without insensitivity, at the right time, with regard for the other person's feelings and context. Gaining the required team empathy is hard.

Candour is often in corporate values, yet generally ignored in reality to avoid looking like an arse. Most do not wish to look like an arse (or a dick head ).

Candour means being open, honest, and straightforward in communications. It involves speaking the truth without holding back, even when it is uncomfortable. It is easy to get candour wrong, with a focus on criticism rather than constructive feedback. It can also fail when it disregards cultural norms, overwhelms the recipient with too much information, or is used for self-serving purposes rather than genuinely helping the other person or situation. Balancing honesty with sensitivity and context is key to successful candour.

Author Kim Scott coined the phrase 'radical candour,' as more than brutal honesty. Caring personally is the critical first step.?

"What is Radical Candor? People often get confused about what Radical Candor really means. It’s not brutal honesty. Radical Candor really just means saying what you think while also giving a damn about the person you’re saying it to." Kim Scott Author of Radical Candour

Importantly, for candour to be effective it cannot come solely from challenging directly, it requires the communicator to care personally. Candour is not about brutal honestly, but trusted empathy. Even with the best intentions, candour can fail, for example across different cultures with varying relationships with talking openly.

"Candor is an important value at Netflix. And yet the Dutch said they felt their American colleagues didn't even know how to be candid. Indeed, on the culture map, Americans are not as direct communicators as the Dutch." Erin Meyer

The Dutch, Germans, Israelis, and Russians are particularly recognised for their straightforwardness, often expressing opinions openly without excessive politeness. Cultures sensitive to candour, such as Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Arab, and Thai, often prioritise indirect communication to maintain harmony and avoid conflict.

Research is a great bridge to candour. Evidence based feedback.

Earlier in my research career, our Managing Director regularly used the phrase “without fear or favour.” Research makes candour easy, through evidence based recommendations. Impartially, without being influenced by personal biases, fear of consequences, or the desire to please leadership. It's about being objective in decision-making or providing advice, regardless of who might be affected.

What candour comes back to is 'Trust.' Caring personally builds the trust in the recipient that candour is provided with empathy and care. A trusted relationship also allows for data to be provided without fear or favour, with out bias as to any negative repercussions.

“Being a trusted advisor means being honest, which often means being candid. Trust requires us to be candid about what we know and don’t know, and to admit when we’ve made a mistake or don’t have the answer.” From the book 'The Trusted Advisor'

External research agencies like Square Holes are often better equipped to be candid than in-house teams due to their objectivity, wide experience, research expertise, and lack of internal pressures. They provide unbiased feedback based on broad industry experience and are motivated to maintain their reputation for integrity. Unlike in-house teams, agencies can challenge assumptions and offer honest assessments without fear of internal repercussions, aligning with clients’ expectations for fresh, objective insights. Supporting the core team to have the evidence to allow candour to leaders, c-suite, CEO or Ministers.

In saying this, what is critical is that the trust and empathy required to build candour generally grows over time. A trusted mentor or advisor likely doesn't happen immediately and work and commitment is valuable to nurture this. Hence why recruiting and retaining good team members and professional advisors (and research agencies) is so critical. And, why word of mouth and referrals are so critical in gaining new staff and agency business.

Again, candour is hard and requires trust and empathy, and speaking without fear or favour.

Candour is so easy to get wrong, but so critical to get right.

Have a good Friday and weekend,

Jason

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Incidentally, 'candour' falls under the second of our three core values at Square Holes - 1) Impact; 2) Nurture and 3) Curious. Nurture is all about ...

'Square Holes fosters?collaboration, pursue?mastery, and promote?candour?for collective growth.'

This piece was inspired by a 'new business' meeting I had last week. Candour can certainly make you think, even if uncomfortable, and vital to continuous improvement.

Also, I'm presenting at this in September if you are in Adelaide ...