Culture of Candor

Love hurts.

Creating a culture of candor in a professional services firm is crucial for building trust and achieving sustainable success. Candor, characterized by open and honest communication, is essential in a business where individual professional development can significantly impact client outcomes and firm growth. The professional services business model is predicated on our teammates becoming more and more valuable to clients each year.

But it is more than a business imperative; providing candid feedback to your colleagues is an indication that you care about them and their personal development. I am not a fan of the ‘feedback sandwich’ where leaders attempt to soften the blow of constructive criticism by bracketing it with positive messages. That just blunts the most vitally important part of the message.

I prefer to dispense with the laudatory statements, acknowledge the other person’s value, and then proceed directly to the areas that need improvement. This is where we should be spending our time. And there is always room for improvement. If the issues are not remedial, then there are progressive development opportunities to tackle. This is the feedback method of a caring leader.

Creating this culture is hard. Providing constructive messages can be scary and receiving them isn’t always enjoyable. Building this culture requires more than just encouraging teammates to provide candid feedback. People need to be open to it and demand it when it isn’t provided. There is no value in a “keep up the good work” message. We can only improve if people care enough about us to give us some guidance. Sometimes love hurts.