Why 'complete honesty' emerges as an important leadership principle

 

1. Anecdote of Steve Jobs

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First, let's look at the anecdote of Steve Jobs, which Jonathan Ive, who was Apple's chief design officer, talks about.

"I asked Jobs if he could give us feedback in a different way, as the way he criticized the product was a bit harsh."

We talked openly about this issue. I spoke first

“Why don’t we put the issues we talked about in a milder way?”

Then Jobs asked.

“Why?” I said.

“Because you have to be considerate of the team.” Then he said something cruel and insightful.”

"it is not so. It's just nonsense. You just want other people to like you. It's even more surprising that you still believe that you value the morale of your team, not how you appear to others."

His words made me angry.

Because everything he said was true, except for one.

This anecdote is from a book called 'Extreme Teams'.

Job's #1 Leadership Quality

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A similar story appears in 'Team Leaders of Silicon Valley'. It seems difficult to find a leader who has shown ‘complete honesty’ as much as Steve Jobs.

He knew that it was best to be honest about anything.

The employees were not obsessed with the image of how they thought of themselves and spoke clearly and candidly what they had to say.

Of course, there were also employees who were hurt. Honesty in leadership is becoming very important.

The interpretation of honesty may be slightly different, but it can be said that it is about giving feedback and communicating the facts as they are, clearly and clearly.

It may seem easy at first glance, but it is actually very difficult. In particular, it is not easy for a leader to show complete honesty to his subordinates.

To be honest, if the other person misunderstood, it can be an uncomfortable relationship, and I am reluctant to give negative feedback when I need to motivate myself in the future.

Of course, Jobs knew the difficulties. He said that giving honest advice is like walking on a knife edge.

It is not easy for a leader to show honesty to his team members like this.

Still, why is complete honesty becoming so important in leadership? Let's look at a few aspects.

Why is Complete Honesty Important?

1. Millennials and Gen Z want transparent communication

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The older generation was the one who wanted to do it. They show loyalty to their orders, and in return they are guaranteed a lifetime of employment.

Because I worked for a long time at the same job, there was also an tacit relationship of trust between the leader and his subordinates.

Without having to go into detail, we knew each other well and worked.

Another generation has entered the workplace. Many of the workplaces are now

Millennials (those born in the early 1980s - mid-1990s) and Gen Z (those born after the mid-1990s) are expected to grow more and more in the future.

They value honest feedback and transparency.

It is a daily routine to react immediately and speak candidly via mobile and social networks.

Even at work, this generation wants candid and specific communication. ‘Let’s all do well together, let’s fight in the future’ is not very motivating.

Ask if the leader communicates vaguely. “Please tell me how to do it in detail” “When will you give me feedback?” You want the leader to give you immediate feedback and be specific and honest.

Transparency is also important.

We want to be transparent and honest about the current state of the company, why we are doing this, and what it means.

These are the generations who have no objection to changing jobs. The average tenure is not long.

In other words, leaders and team members don't work very long together. There is no longer a relationship that says ‘if you pretend, you pretend’.

As workplace members change to millennials and Generation Z, a change in leader communication is required.

It is becoming more important to transparently share the situation and to be honest and agree on what you want.

2. The way we work is changing from ‘performance evaluation’ to ‘support for growth’

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Changes in the way we work are also calling for leadership changes.

In the past, the way of working was mainly in terms of evaluation. Performance management, that is, judging, evaluating, and rewarding past performance was central.

Most of the leader's communication was to instruct them to do something and to give feedback on the results of whether they were right or wrong.

The way we work is now changing to a growth perspective.

Growth management is changing to a perspective that supports team members to immerse themselves in their work and to help them reach their full potential.

Supporting the growth of team members through process management, rather than evaluating results, has become important.

As process management becomes more important, rich conversations between leaders and team members are required.

It is not a conversation that orders work and evaluates the results as in the past, but rather the leader and team members meet one-on-one and have frequent conversations.

One-on-one meetings are on the rise these days because the role of leaders is changing in a way that helps team members to work and deliver results at their best, immersed.

‘Are you happy these days?’

‘What is the most difficult thing about what you are doing now?’

'How can I help you?'

‘What is the most difficult part of your work life?’

‘What kind of thoughts do you have for career development?’ In this way, we have to have regular 1:1 conversations, so the frequency of conversations is bound to increase significantly compared to the past.

It is not a formal conversation, but an in-depth and candid conversation. A change in leadership is required in the role of a coach who asks questions, listens, and leads candid conversations.

3. Dishonest feedback harms you and your team.

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Kim Scott is the co-founder and CEO of Candor.

She has worked for Google and Apple, and she is also a professor at Apple University. Her book ‘Leaders of the Recon Valley (Original Title: Radical Candor)’ begins with her own failure story. The contents are as follows.

She hired a friendly, fun and caring employee named Bob the all-timer.

However, contrary to expectations, his work ability was very poor.

He was a busy start-up, so he couldn't teach one-on-one or point out mistakes, and instead of teaching what he didn't do right, she worked around the situation instead.

Bob's work did not improve and problems began to affect his teammates.

The team members even worked overtime to supplement Bob's work.

As the team's morale dwindles and performance deteriorates, she has no choice but to meet Bob and talk to him a few times before giving him a notice of dismissal. Bob gets up in shock and says:

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Why didn't anyone tell me that?"

She didn't make timely comments about her mistakes or feedback on what needs to be improved.

The cost of being dishonest led to the dismissal of the person concerned and the deterioration of the team's performance.

A similar story can be found in the book 'Powerful' by Patty McCord, former chief talent officer of Netflix.

This is the case of a team leader who moved from Yahoo to Netflix.

When I was at Yahoo, it was a culture of praising and supporting each other and not criticizing each other.

But giving and receiving honest feedback has been instrumental in helping his team do a great job. he says

Bosses sometimes feel undue pressure to cover their employees, which robs them of opportunities to improve and places the rest of the workforce unfairly.

At Yahoo, a team member failed to provide feedback on what he needed to improve, which forced others to unreasonably take on more work to fill his void.

I was too kind. No, it's not kind.

Rather, he was a bad manager in many ways. The more you believe it to be kindness, the more atrocious you become to your employees.

Failure to provide such honest feedback in a timely manner will cause harm to the person concerned.

It takes away the opportunity to recognize the problem and improve it. Next, you deal damage to your allies.

Unfair situations can arise at the team level. Problems that are not improved continue to remain, and someone will eventually have to take on the task.

4. A solution can be found quickly when the truth is shared transparently

“It is natural to be afraid of a doctor's diagnosis when you are ill. What if it's cancer or another fatal disease? The truth can have dreadful consequences, but knowing the truth can help you find the right treatment. So in the long run, it is better to know the truth.”

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Ray Dalio is the founder of Bridgewater, the world's largest hedge fund company.

In the process of growing Bridgewater into an organization with 1500 members, there are many management principles learned through rich hands-on experience.

One of the important principles is 'extreme truth and extreme transparency'.

Ray Dalio has embraced a culture of extreme candor as an important management principle.

He adhered to the principle of being honest and sharing everything honestly

It eliminates the urge to look good in the pursuit of extreme truth and not waste time guessing what other people are thinking.

We also pursue extreme honesty in our evaluations and dismissals.

What you're not good at is giving feedback clearly and breaking up with people who aren't right for you quickly so they can do what they're good at.

It is also said to be terrifying for those involved, as allowing people to continue doing things that are not suitable for them will hinder their personal progress.

A very important lesson can be obtained here.

One of the things leaders get wrong is thinking of themselves as guardians of their team members.

The more you think about it, the farther away you are from being honest.

Leaders should be supporters who help team members grow, not guardians of team members.

If you don't communicate honestly about protecting your teammates, you're more likely to not reach their full potential.

If an employee who can do 100 is doing 80 and only saying that they are doing well, growth of the remaining 20 is difficult.

If you do not communicate honestly in the evaluation of your colleagues, your relationship with them will deteriorate, and the person concerned will not be able to grow and improve.

The most important communication tool that can grow and motivate team members is honesty.

It became necessary to clearly and specifically state what we expect, to differentiate between what we are doing well and what we are doing wrong, and to share the current situation transparently and honestly.

We need to take Ray Dalio's words seriously.

"The greatest gift you can give someone is the power to succeed. Don't give people what they're trying to get, but give them a chance to work hard makes them stronger. It's easy to give compliments, but compliments help people know what they're capable of. Pointing out someone's mistakes and weaknesses is more difficult and unwelcome (which helps people learn what to do), but in the long run it is much more valuable and valuable.”

So far, I have divided the four reasons why complete honesty is so important in leadership.

Building a culture of honest feedback is not as easy as you might think.

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