At its core, Radical Candor is all about being both caring and challenging in your communication. It's about taking the time to get to know your team members as individuals and showing a genuine interest in their well-being. It's also about giving honest, direct feedback and holding people accountable for their actions.
Kim Scott popularised the term in her 2017 book, also named Radical Candor.
The author, Kim Scott, Explains It in 6 Minutes
The Radical Candor Model with examples
The two pillars - caring personally and challenging directly - form the foundation of the Radical Candor model. And when used correctly, this model can be a powerful tool for building strong, effective relationships with your team.
Caring personally means using empathy in your communication. Understand the person you are speaking to and how to convey your message to them without negatively impacting their emotions.
Challenging directly means speaking directly to the issue at hand. Be as clear, concise and direct as possible when conveying your point.
When you plot these two foundations on a 2x2 grid, you get the following:
Let’s discuss each of these quadrants.
Obnoxious Aggression
This occurs when you disregard someone else's state of mind and focus entirely on the issue being discussed. You are challenging but not caring.
The negative experience that person goes through usually ends up negating the message you were trying to convey. When you leave the room, they will call you an a-hole, and your working relationship will take a knock. This leads to toxic work cultures.
Manipulative Insincerity
This is the opposite of Radical Candor; you’re neither caring nor direct. This is typically the outcome of totally toxic workplaces where staff no longer care about each other or the organisation.
This is culture bankruptcy.
Ruinous Empathy
Ironically, most of our behaviour lands in this category because we’ve been taught from a young age, “if you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all.” This leads us to withhold valuable feedback or opinions for fear of hurting someone’s feelings.
This leads to cultures where nothing gets done, and critical information needed for organisational progress is lost because people don’t speak up.
Radical Candor
If you manage to walk the tightrope of providing challenging and direct feedback with empathy, you’ve arrived at Radical Candor.
Why Is A Culture of Candor Important?
A culture of candor is essential for several reasons.
- Firstly, it allows for open and honest communication within the organisation. This helps to foster trust and build strong relationships between team members.
- Additionally, when people feel comfortable providing candid feedback, it can lead to improved performance and productivity and the ability to identify and address issues more quickly.
- A culture of candor also encourages personal growth and development, as individuals can receive constructive feedback and make improvements.
- Finally, it helps to prevent toxic work cultures, where people feel uncomfortable speaking up or giving honest feedback.
Overall, candor is essential for building a healthy company culture and a successful organisation.
How to find opportunities to use Radical Candor
There are several opportunities to use Radical Candor in the workplace.
- One effective way is to schedule regular check-ins with team members, where you can discuss their progress and provide feedback. This could be done on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis.
- Additionally, when a specific task or project is completed, it's an opportunity to provide feedback on what went well and what could be improved upon.
- Another opportunity to use Radical Candor is during performance reviews, where both the employee and the manager can provide feedback on the employee's performance.
It's also essential to create an environment where team members feel comfortable giving and receiving feedback to foster a culture of candor. This can be achieved through regular team meetings, where feedback can be shared and discussed, and through setting expectations for open and honest communication.
