“Those who take pride in being ‘brutally honest’ are often more interested in being brutal than they are in being honest.” -@BobBurg
Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist shared this a while back on his Instagram feed. This goes along with one of the important principles from the Crucial Accountability workshop which is checking our intentions as we give feedback or as we hold someone accountable. As Grant said in his post, “you can be candid without sacrificing care. When you get radical transparency right, it doesn’t feel brutal. It feels helpful.”
As leaders, we can have a lot more influence when our feedback or accountability conversations feel helpful. It is important to run a check on our intentions and ask ourselves why we are having the conversation in the first place. If it is just about us, or making the other person see how we are right and they are wrong, those truth bombs might not feel so helpful. We don’t have to choose between being candid and being caring – this is a false dichotomy. The best at giving feedback figure out a way to do both.