Essay on
Radical Candor
by Kim Scott
Kim Scott wrote this book because she wants to rid the world of bad bosses. For years, she was a part of companies where leaders seemed to suck the energy of the team instead of giving it to them. Until she became a part of Google...
Radical candor is all about creating an environment in which we can have real and thriving relationships. At the same time we need to have the willingness to piss people off, as Kim says.
So how can we categorize the usual behavior when it comes to giving feedback?
Obnoxious aggression comes out almost as an uncontrolled stream of emotional complaints. It can express judgment, critique towards the person and not the activity that the person carried out, and overall, just a very rude uncontrolled complaint. And that, of course, even if based on a problem that should be addressed, cannot be received well. We automatically enter a state of counterattack or a state of defense.
Manipulative insincerity is talk that happens behind your back or even just in the head of the person who has any “problem with you”. This can come out as passive aggressive behavior or even insincerity with some kind of agenda. As a result, this behavior causes mistrust in the workplace and can cause a lot of damage.
Ruinous empathy happens when people are uncomfortable to give you feedback. They do not want to create any uncomfortable situation for themselves or for you, so they just keep silent. In reality they choose comfort for a short period and take a huge risk of things just getting worse and worse all the way down to the impossibility of coming back from it.
And here we go with radical candor! For Kim, the ideal way of giving feedback and experiencing growth. We should offer praise and critique equally and ask for it ourselves as well. This is very important and helps you develop a growth mindset and openness to receiving feedback. Ask: How can I get better?
How to do it in practice with your teams?
Start with asking for feedback, especially for criticism. When you get a hold of receiving it yourself, start giving it to your teammates. Do not go overboard with criticism, it is as much about praise as it is about criticism. And there are not right words on how you should put it. You can create your own wording and go with the flow. React to the person's emotions and improvement over time and adjust to that. And last but not least, Kim speaks about how important it is to encourage this whole process in your teams.
The productivity cycle
Debate. Debate with the team. Ask: What are the options? Let's explore it together. When you don't speak with people and there is no co-creation, misalignment can cause a huge wall in between the leadership and the rest of the team. Doing it, on the other hand, not only that the team has a personal motivation when it comes to goals and directions you are heading, you also have so many more opinions and knowledge to take from, and that is a soil for growth and healthy relationships in the workplace.
It all starts with changing your own posture about receiving feedback. We often focus so much on how to give it, but how do we take it? Are we able to accept even criticism from a place of growth? According to Kim, that is the place to start. And I think it's brilliant. Besides, if we all start asking for it, we won't even have to move to the next steps. :)
