Kim Scott on Bringing Radical Candor — and Respect — to Work
On this episode of Redefining Work, I’m joined by Kim Scott, author of the classic, “Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity,” and her new book, “Radical Respect: How To Work Together Better.” Kim and I sit down to talk about the framework for “Radical Candor,” how to interpret and apply the book at work and her newest publication — which she wrote as a kind of prequel to “Radical Candor” — “Radical Respect.”
Candor is essential to good leadership, Kim explains, but most people don’t learn how to use it responsibly — if they receive any leadership training at all. “Leadership is really hard, and very few people are taught how to manage other people before they start doing it,” Kim says. “We all get thrown into the deep end, and when we sink — as certainly I've done in my career — it's not just ourselves who are drowning. We're dragging a whole team down with us.”
Radical candor, she explains, occurs at the intersection of personal caring and a challenge to team members to better themselves. People need to know that you care about them, but at the same time, you do them a disservice if you don’t help them grow.
Listen in to learn how to give — and receive — radical candor to help everyone on your team grow.
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Foster Vulnerability Through Feedback
HR plays a critical role in creating cultures of radical candor by building empathy first. To start, help leaders and managers experience what it feels like to receive feedback themselves before offering it to team members. “The best way that a leader can begin to foster a culture of radical candor is not to dish it out before they prove they can take it,” Kim says. “They’ve got to start by soliciting feedback.” By personally role-modeling openness to constructive input, leaders demonstrate the very vulnerability they aim to foster in others.
You can support leaders in this important work — starting by letting them know it’s okay to not feel comfortable with what they hear. “You've got to embrace the discomfort,” Kim says. As their HR partners, you can guide candid self-reflection on typical defensive reactions and encourage perspective-taking to better understand other viewpoints. Coach leaders and managers through asking follow-up questions to make sure they understand the full intent and impact of the feedback they receive.
After receiving feedback, Kim encourages leaders to not only share what they’ve learned about themselves but also the steps they’ve taken to address the feedback from their team. “You want to reward the candor,” Kim says. “And if you agree with the feedback, the best reward is to fix it.”
Coach leaders to actively solicit input, carefully consider it and engage in visible changes as a result — fostering much-needed psychological safety to help everyone perform at their best.
Power the Business Through Positive Culture
Kim always understood the value of a positive, people-oriented culture. Before joining Google, Kim had started her own company — but had struggled to create the collaborative, respect-focused culture she envisioned. That’s why she was thrilled to discover that the leadership team at Google had consciously designed management systems to strip unilateral decision-making power from leaders and instead encourage a relationship-based approach.
“In some ways, taking that job at Google in 2004 was like the resurrection of a dream,” she says. “Because I realized it could happen: it was possible for people to treat each other well and to enjoy working together and to find a lot of success that way.”
A culture where people feel valued and respected isn’t just a nice-to-have: it’s a strategic business driver. Kim did some of the best work of her career at Google, she says, and formed close friendships with teammates that have lasted to this day. The experience proved to her that when people respect one another and enjoy collaborating together, the business becomes much better for it.
Guide Teams Through Volatile Times With Care
No matter how much you foster internal harmony, contentions from external situations can still creep into the workplace — especially during a highly-charged political election. But all is not lost: “It's possible for people who feel very differently about politics to work well together,” Kim says. As HR leaders navigating polarized times, your role in fostering healthy workplace dynamics is crucial.
“The key is respect,” Kim says. “When you really respect someone, you're able to have these conversations — and not get sucked down into the conversation too deeply.” By collaborating with leadership, you can help establish norms that uphold respect and productivity.
Leaders, for example, should create clear rules of engagement for appropriate and inappropriate political discussions in the workplace. This includes setting boundaries around imposing beliefs on others. Establish consequences for bullying behaviors to deter employees from engaging in them. Instead, foster open conversations by creating spaces where differing views feel heard, not attacked. Train managers in holding structured yet respectful exchanges.
By proactively addressing these challenges, you and your leadership team can guide employees through volatile times while maintaining motivation, creativity and care among team members.
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Kim Scott: LinkedIn
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