Leadership Center

Are YOU a kick-ass boss? Can you be a better leader and co-worker? There is always room for improvement! Discover how Kim Scott intersects caring personally and challenging directly to create Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity.

Care Personally

What do you know about your employees outside of their work lives? If your answer resembles something such as nothing, not much, very little...you are missing a critical piece of the Radical Candor puzzle. Caring personally is crucial to being a kick-ass boss.

You might be thinking, “I try to stay out of my employees’ personal matters,” or “It’s not my business,” or “I’m not my employees’ social worker,” or “It’s not professional to mix business and personal.” The reality is - it IS your business, you perform various roles as a boss and social worker may be one of them. Furthermore, if you do not take the opportunity to learn about your employees’ lives outside of the workplace then you are setting yourself up for failure as a leader. 

 
Kim Scott (2017) echoes John Hall (2014) as he pointed out when employees feel personally cared about and appreciated, they feel more ownership for their work, will be happier in their jobs and are more likely to be long-term employees. It is critical for employees to be seen and treated as people, not just worker bees. 

Some simple suggestions for trying to connect personally with your employees are as follows:

• Do not act as if you are above your employees.
• Show your own vulnerabilities.
• Get to know more about your employees and their families.
• Invest in your employees and their professional development.
• Learn what is important to each employee.
• Give employees your time and attention.
• Acknowledge that life exists beyond the workplace.
• Bring in treats or buy lunch on occasion.
• Allow employees to leave early or arrive late as a perk or when necessary.

Easy enough? Not so fast. Caring personally does not come natural to all. Although most everyone may say (s)he has engaged in some of the aforementioned acts, were they genuine and/or were the acts followed by comment, conversation or action which counteracted the intention. Was there any follow-up and was it a one-time deal or does it happen regularly? 

Take the following situation as an example:

 Imagine learning your family member has a serious, possibly life-threatening illness/condition and you are accompanying him/her to an appointment with a specialist. What an emotional time! You tell your boss the situation and the response is something like “Sorry to hear that. What type of time off would you like me to record for you?”

What I described is such a delicate and emotional situation. It is an inappropriate time to ask what type of time one wants to use and certainly sounds like you only care about the worker bee, not the person. Perhaps you truly care personally, but just have not perfected showing it. However, if it is your goal to maintain a productive long-term team who will do what is necessary to be successful for you and for the organization, it is imperative that you master showing that you genuinely care personally for your employees. Keep practicing and try some suggestions mentioned.

“When handled appropriately and professionally, conflict should be healthy, productive and viewed as necessary to move the organization forward.”

Challenge Directly

When you read “challenge directly” did an image of an all-knowing teenager and his/her parent come to mind? Did it produce a nauseous feeling as you remember confronting someone and making the situation worse? Now, imagine challenging directly as leading to an improved relationship, situation, team or outcome.

Though the task of challenging others directly may not always be comfortable, it is necessary to build trusting relationships which lay the foundation for effective teams. Challenging directly most often involves conflict, which is viewed as negative. However, when handled appropriately and professionally, conflict should be healthy, productive and viewed as necessary to move the organization forward.

Bosses are encouraged to challenge employees to ensure the best outcome, whether it be the best idea to bring forth, the best plan to put in place or the best product to move to production. Furthermore, to foster a trusting relationship and maintain the goal of attaining success, employees should also challenge the boss. Challenging the boss will force more critical thinking for employees and their boss and help highlight the reasoning behind decisions. Besides, bosses are not always right and make mistakes as they are human too. Assist one another in making the entire team shine. 

Challenging directly requires patience and practice. One may feel personally attacked when challenged directly, especially when first beginning to employ the strategy. As the boss, remember to show you care personally, acknowledge when the other person is feeling pain and NEVER say “don’t take it personally.” Be careful not to pretend something is not an issue because you feel bad. Instead, be part of the solution and offer assistance in resolving the issue(s). Additionally, bosses must be cognizant of his/her reactions to being challenged directly. Caring personally while you are challenging directly will only continue to build and strengthen relationships. 

“Direct = clear = kind = Radical Candor!.”

Sources:

Hall, J. (2014). 11 Simple Ways To Show Your Employees You Care. Retrieved from   https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhall/2014/03/10/11-simple-ways-to-show-your-employees-you-care/#32s45190450e