How To Give Candor Feedback According to Kim Scott?

My notes on #book Radical Candor: Fully Revised & Updated Edition: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity: Scott, Kim

What is a Radicar Candor?

• honest feedback → do that in a way that does not call into question your confidence in their abilities but leaves not too much room for interpretation (but not brutally honest) → it is a hard thing to do
• don't make it personal flow, focus on behaviour → something that can be fixed, personality cannot → avoid fundamental attribution error 👇

• eg. “You’re sloppy” vs “You’ve been working nights and weekends, and it’s starting to take a toll on your ability to catch mistakes in your logic.”

• give more praise than criticism (but don't force it!! It can lead to insincere praise) → ideal ratio is 3:1 (praise vs criticism)
• avoid "shit sandwich" (feedback sandwich)

Radical Praise

• provide context, be very specific, and go into details
• make sure you know why you give the praise

• “The other day I gave you a hard time about leaving early for practice, and I then felt bad about it, because in fact I really admire that you are a Little League coach. You do as good a job integrating your work and your life as anyone I know. I always wonder if I’m spending enough time with my kids, and the example you set by coaching helps me do better. Also, the things you’ve learned from the Positive Coaching Alliance have been enormously helpful in our work.”

Radical Candor Criticism

• the keep winning, criticise the wins

• say what it be done better, even if you win

How to Start with Radical Candor?

• Start asking people to give you feedback → start getting feedback, not giving it
  • reason 1: it shows that you are aware of that you are not perfect and often wrong
  • reason 2: you will learn a lot
  • reason 3: you will experience how to feel to get feedback, and you will understand what it can does to others
  • reason 4: asking for feedback builds trust and relationships
• once a person is bold enough to criticise you, don't EVER criticise them back (rather say nothing) → always reward Candor and their "brave"

How to Give Critical Feedback without Discouraging the Person?

• focus on building relationships
• ask for criticism before giving it
• offer more praise than criticism
• be humble, helpful, and offer guidance
• praise in public, criticise in private
• don't personalise it → make it clear it can be fixed and it is not a personal flaw

I don’t mind being wrong. And I’ll admit that I’m wrong a lot. It doesn’t really matter to me too much. What matters to me is that we do the right thing. #person/jobs

Example of Radical Candor

(And what it is not…)

This article was originally published on https://craftengineer.com/. It was written by a human and polished using grammar tools for clarity.

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