The Benefits of being Smart Candid
Bruno Coelho
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One of the key elements of leadership in a company is being candid.
How many times have you considered the risk of speaking about how you see the truth and talk about the opportunities and challenges?
There is a risk of speaking your truth about what you believe are the risks and opportunities of challenges.
The Why:
?Being "smart candid" makes you valuable to your company.
Every good leader wants to hear the truth and the best arguments regarding the opportunities and risks of a possible course of action.
Candor is worth fighting for. Without candor, you won’t get the truth. Without truth, you don’t get to reality, and without reality, you are working on the wrong stuff. (McNerney Jim, 2018)
The How:
A key ability is to lead or engage effectively in an authentic debate of what are the strengths and weaknesses of different options.
Be candid, state your ideas, use data to support them.
Then, listen actively, be curious, discover what is underpinning other ideas and discuss solutions, not emotions.
Show by example how to constructively challenge ideas and work on the truth, even to senior leadership.
Be aware
Be aware that egos and emotions can get in the way of a debate. Note the following:
"Aggressive and harsh behaviors observed in interpersonal confrontations reflect people’s frustrations. These people, often have good intentions but bad in dealing with intense emotional stress". (Davidson M., 2001)
Paradox Illusion - Consensual vs driving change
There is a paradox illusion that either you have to be consensual by being +1, or you have to be a challenger with strong opinions to lead change.
Be both!
To be successful and sustain that success in the long term you have to oscillate between both according to what is best for your company.
References:
Davidson Martin, 2001, Managing Conflict in Organizations, University of Virginia - Darden Business Publishing
McNerney Jim, 2018, Expert of Practice Video Week 5, JWI510 Leadership in the 21th Century JWMI
Zaslav David, 2018, Expert of Practice Video Week 5, 510 Leadership in the 21th Century JWMI