Radical candor. Think You’re Cut Out For Criticism?
What does it mean to practice Radical Candor or it’s cousin, Front Stabbing? I was intrigued enough by the concepts to read the following article about Radical Candor http://www.fierceinc.com/resources/articles/nice-four-letter-word-companies-practicing-radical-candor.
By the end of the article I was left feeling bewildered. 
Radical candor is “a safe word” used to promote more honest feedback in the work environment. Radical candor encourages employees to speak up about sub-par work or work-life balance issues.
Ok, check. Clear communication is something we are always striving for.
Radical candor: Solution or Problem?
The underlying premise of why radical candor is needed is employees are too nice and they’re not sharing important “criticism” with each other. This premise assumes radical candor promotes honest conversations that values corporate performance over individual egos.
“Bruised egos are better than the alternative—stalled projects, low performers, resentment that festers”.
Wait a minute….how does honest feedback lead to bruised egos? What kind of feedback is this exactly?
Front Stabbing: Aggressive Criticism?
Val DiFebo, the CEO of Deutsche is fan of the radical candor practice of front-stabbing (doesn’t that sound painful?). People at his firm are expected to confront someone they feel is taking advantage of a client’s strategy or copying too many people on e-mails. The recipients of the critiques are expected to defend themselves or make changes.
I wonder how the employees feel about this practice of front-stabbing and what kind of culture this is promoting?
There are some very potent words being thrown around here: stabbing, confrontation, taking advantage, critiques.
Are these practices promoting greater understanding or are they promoting lazy (aggressive?) communication? Another quick-fix?
Do these practices give permission to share opinions about what you believe someone is or isn’t doing under the guise of radical candor using front stabbing? After all, it’s safe.
Since when is stabbing safe?
Mirroring Distorted Perceptions
Kim Scott, a former Google employee and an executive coach is writing a book about Radical Candor. She describes it as expressing criticism while showing genuine concern.
For example, Scott offers tips like sharing your criticism while taking a walk or better yet, offering them a bottle of water and both of you taking a sip, that will give you both time to calm your emotions.
Calm your emotions? How does sharing feedback results create the need to calm the emotions of 
both the giver and receiver? What kind of feedback is Radical Candor promoting?
Next Scott says it is important to hold up a mirror for your colleagues at work.
What if it’s a fun house mirror? What if the person who is holding up the mirror has distorted perceptions and now feels emboldened to share all of their criticisms with you? In turn, you are expected to defend yourself or justify their distorted perceptions.
How is mirroring dysfunction going to foster greater performance?
Let’s take a look at the words candor and criticism. Let’s set generalizations of what we think is meant by candor and criticism, and instead, engage the etymology, the true meaning of a words.
Candor means openness of mind, impartiality, frankness. Criticism means one who passes judgment, fault finder. How can one be promoting candor while at the same time promote criticism? It seems like an oxymoron..
We all need to be mindful of confusing, aggressive advice that leads to bushwhacking our co-workers. While the concept of Radical and Candor sound good, it’s no substitute for dialogue and mutual inquiry.
Granted, the practice of mutual inquiry may take longer, but you and your colleagues won’t be getting stabbed or tricked into giving and taking sucker punches.
If you would like more information on engaging in mutual inquiry, please let me know and I am happy to share resources with you, starting with Crucial Conversations.
The day came where we could no longer ignore that Frankie was dying. He was in pain. As a family we came together and agreed that it was time to take Frankie to the vet…
