Candour

Candour.

Dictionary definition: Noun - the quality of being open and honest; frankness.

There are times when only candour will do. But hang on, does that mean we're normally faking it? Skimming over the surface of troubled waters? Avoiding conflict?

Sometimes, yes.

Being a self-managed team (our one rule People & Transformational HR Ltd ) means that there's no "boss says" here. Sure I hold the constitutional, legal, recognised "senior" space here, and because I believe in the concept of mature adults being self-directed and the psychology of Self-Determination Theory, I don't call all the shots.

But there are times when someone has to apply candour, invite reflection and challenge things. Things that - in the spirit of collectivism - need some realignment, recalibrating and rebooting.

And we're there. And it's all part of maturity, evolution and growth. And it's not easy. But it IS worth it.

I'm not advocating the deliberate over-use of blunt and unthoughtful directness, or cult-like compliance or ostracising under-sharing. I'm saying healthy, open, frank and positively-intended ways to shape how things are, how we could be and how to absorb and apply that. Together. Collectively.

The systems we have here aren't my systems, or anyone else's on the team - they're OUR systems. And if they fail, that's not on the supposed system designer, it's on us individually and collectively for not being candid enough to intervene, suggest and make good.

Looking to Kim Scott's work on Radical Candour (see graphic - ok it's a classic 2x2 but it illustrates the concept quickly enough for the scrolling times of online information) it's helping show how things can go off-kilter. Behaviours might go unchecked; or some things are deliberately or unwittingly allowed to happen that distort and somewhat fragment, pollute and diminish a positive work culture, an effective work system and a spirit of trust, psychological safety, a sense of belonging, a feeling of motivation and a climate of inclusion.

Not always obvious and flagrant "violations". More what we've coined at PTHR "micro disappointments".

When you care, you make a stand. When you believe, you push a boundary. When you are challenged, you pose provocative questions.

Live experiments in the world of work are often vacuum-packed innovations about digital innovation, systems changes and process reengineering. But they're also cultural, behavioural, and attitudinal and those invariably manifest in systems, processes, and decision-making and not just in camaraderie, moments of kinship and offers of help.

We advocate for experimentation and iterative test-and-learn development in our work and thankfully, we're congruent in that to do these for ourselves, about ourselves and with positive and productive intent.

We're intervening in our system; on my invitation and with intentional direction towards more radical candour. In a kind, supportive and human-centric enterprise that may not always seem easy.

Ruffling feathers, treading on toes, and bringing to attention some behavioural foibles come with anxiety, reactions, and even defensive or emotive responses.

But what lurks in the shadows won't stay there forever. As micro-disappointments stack up, they can become irreparable cracks.

Conflict engagement, radical candour, and transparency didn't appear to happen so obviously in teams I was a part of in the past. And being frank (!) those teams had superficial connections, functional alliances and no real sense of harmony, bond and belief in each other. Some of that was my fault as the leader of the team. Not applying any form of candour let alone radical. I recall trying some candour and I recall it bouncing off and creating nothing but a dark-cloud atmosphere for a while. I don't think I was strong enough in character and I also think I had more lofty expectations of how a team could and should be than those in the team.

Some of those lessons leave scars but they also act as a reminder of how not to be in pursuit of a caring, together, aligned, accountable, and clearly framed team or unit of people. I now see my failed attempts at leading others preparing me for what really matters to me: Self-Management and a caring collective of people who also believe in that and the mission the self-management approach is aligned to do.

So with this team, it's different. We really do have a vested interest in what we've built. And we respect each other's differences in skills, hours on the clock and value that's added to the collective.

And still, we sometimes slip into individualistic and somewhat self-pro ways.

But hang on, you said self-management - isn't that what that is then? Why does this need some course correction?

Because self-management isn't self-indulgence. Or solo-playing amongst others.

Self-management is aligned autonomy

You choose how, what, when, where, and with whom you work, but the work is always aligned with our purpose, mission, prioritised areas of work, goals, agreed objectives, deadline-critical tasks, and high-value activities for the enterprise.

Not just what I fancy doing. Or how I fancy behaving.

And it's probably harder than conventional, top-down, controlling ways of hierarchical deference, power-yielding leader figures and non-negotiable systems of work.

But it's also liberating. Mature. Adult. Responsible and truly accountable. Character building. Learning-pro. And it's ours. Shared. Shaped. Ours.

We'd be frauds if we said self-management is the plug-and-play easy upgrade to work operating systems. It's not. Conventional, hierarchical top-down is the easy bit. Compliance and conformism are more tightly defined and arguably less complex.

But that doesn't make it right.

So the point to this?

Our ongoing experimentation in how we are, what we believe in, how we show up and what we set ourselves up to do is that. An ongoing experiment. It's never the simplest and most straight point-to-point solution but it IS the more meaningful, growth-oriented way to be and do.

If we truly want fulfilling, high-performing, human and flourishing places to work - and that seems to be the spoken or unspoken desire (looking at stubbornly low engagement scores still and stand-offs between diktat and choice on knowledge work in-office/remote/hybrid permutations) - then we need more radical candour, conflict engagement and mature, adult-to-adult conversational and co-created approaches.

Else we become insular, passive and somewhat inhibited, restricted and under-developed people part of someone else's dogma, machinery and will.

• How can we build psychologically safe teams and enterprises if we shy away and avoid candour?
• How do we tackle even mild trust violations that people may even be unaware of?
• How do we bring harmony whilst accepting that we'll hit some bum notes, and just need to keep practising before we hit symphonic tones?

With conflict engagement and candour.

Because you - and we - care beyond transaction, compliance and adherence. We commit. We are assured, fallible and intentional. We are independent adults who happen to belong to something bigger than ourselves and play into our collective strength. We believe. And then, we flourish.