May your workplace have Radical Candor

I highly recommend Kim Scott’s Radical Candor to every manager and non-manager alike. It talks about a culture and a framework of empathy and providing frequent positive and critical feedback that Kim developed over her years of working at Google and Apple and as a CEO coach. The first part of the book focuses on the philosophy and the second part has practical tools and techniques you can apply in your day-to-day work life. I love the personal stories from Kim and the many insights into Google and Apple cultures.

The radical candor approach is a lot more than the phrase would lead you to believe. It’s about building relationships with each person on your team. It’s about asking for, providing and encouraging a culture of guidance. It’s about driving results collaboratively. It includes how to structure your 1-1s, performance management, meeting optimization and career conversations.

I realized I’ve been applying bits and pieces of the approach, some well and some incorrectly. Kim differentiates between superstars and rockstars on your team. People can be on a steep growth trajectory craving growth (superstars) or a gradual growth trajectory craving stability (rockstars), and you want a mix of both of them. Also, one’s growth goals can change over time so it’s critical to stay close to your people. They have different aspirations and need a different set of opportunities to thrive. It’s important to know who in your team is in which trajectory.

In these covid work-from-home times, some of the techniques will have to be adapted for remote work, no doubt. I’ve been reviewing Gitlab’s handbook for remote work techniques.

So far, my go-to book on management has been First, Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. I’m thrilled to add “Radical Candor” and look forward to incorporating it more thoughtfully.