“Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind.” ~ Brene Brown

What is Radical Candor?

In our recent Q3 Leadership Meeting, our Marc Campo delivered a culture moment on one of our culture pillars, Candor. He leveraged concepts from the book Radical Candor by Kim Scott.

Marc first helped us understand the difference between candor -v- radical candor.

Candor is the quality of being open and honest in expression.

Radical Candor is caring personally while also challenging directly. It involves guidance and feedback that is both kind, clear, specific, and sincere.

Radical candor is valuable in our culture because it leads to more confidence and the opportunity to improve, all while being respectful and valuing everyone’s effort.

Below are some key points to properly practice Radical Candor, using the acronym “HIP”:

• Humble: Be curious, not arrogant

• Helpful: State that your intentions are to be helpful

• Immediate: Feedback has a short half life

• In person: Clarity of your feedback gets measured not at your mouth, but at the receiver’s ear

• Private criticism / Public praise: Deliver praise in public, while keeping criticism private

• Not about Personality: Feedback is based on the work, rather than on the person

How can we apply Radical Candor?

Reflecting more on this culture pillar, I wanted to share three “tools” we have within our APM Leader “Toolbox” that help us apply radical candor on a daily basis.

SORRY +/- is a method that incorporates all of the HIP points when candidly praising and correcting behavior.

Ask Good Questions is a simple, but effective way to be humble and curious while being candid.

Early in my career, for three straight years I had the development need of empathy. Then another leader gave me a gift by asking this question:  How often do you interact with others to complete a “transaction”, instead of having a meaningful interaction? I was convicted, and I have never forgotten that question.

STOP is an expression of both caring and challenging; what better way to say “I care” by intervening when you see someone doing something that may harm themselves or others.

Open Forum – Our next opportunity for Radical Candor!

Our next Open Forum is this Tuesday the 25th. Click here to start submitting your questions for the Open Forum. I trust your questions and our answers will be both caring and challenging, in the spirit of Radical Candor.