With the end of the road in sight, session nine of 10 of Saroca’s LeadHERship Program, titled ‘The High Road,’ took place.
In this penultimate session, we discussed the concept of radical candor, how we receive feedback and engage with conflict, and how our responses to our circumstances impact their outcome.
Radical candor
Breaking down the terms ‘radical’ and ‘candor,’ the phrase itself may differ in its meaning person to person. However, the gist of the phrase is thus: Being open, honest and frank, in a way that is unflinching and thorough.
To be just one of these things in our engagement with others rarely yields fruitful results. To be unflinching but to do so without empathy may come across as bullying; like obnoxious aggression, as Saroca Co-Founder Emily Leeb explained. Alternatively, to be empathetic, but to do so to the point where we avoid confrontation, guarantees someone will not grow in their role; ruinous empathy, as Leeb explained.
Bringing radical candor into the workplace brings about leadership that is honest yet direct, getting things done while doing so with an understanding of how staff feel.
Feedback and interacting with conflict
Taking radical candor and applying it to conflict and feedback also provides enhanced opportunities for leaders. For example, a leader engaging in radical candor can endure uncomfortable situations – the fear, the sweaty palms – because they know that enduring discomfort will bring reward in the future. Leeb described it as akin to having a rotten tooth pulled: It hurts to have done and brings discomfort afterwards, but in the long run, the results will be worth the discomfort.
C+R=O
Circumstance plus response equals outcome, or C+R=O, is the idea that, while some things in life are out of our control, our response to those circumstances will be what defines their outcome. As our final exercise of the session, we wrote down a selection of elements in our life that we cannot control at present, then considered ourselves a year in the future – in a year, what has changed, what risks have you taken and what has been the outcome of this?
Looking at it this way, circumstances became less of a block to achievement, but something to circumnavigate. They may be out of my control, but in how I act towards them, they may not be as detrimental as they first appear.
What did I learn?
To be honest is to be kind – if we skirt around honesty for the sake of preserving personal connection, an individual can fall behind. This is something we can avoid with radical candor. It is a tricky thing to fully believe, but something I am aware is a fact. Now it is just a case of applying it.
For more on Saroca’s LeadHERship program, we have covered all eight previous sessions in GI Friday, Trafficology and on the Gambling Insider website.
