How do you feel about total honesty in the workplace? Most often, in order to avoid the discomfort of offending someone, bosses, managers and colleagues find inventive ways of giving feedback that skirt around the real truth. In fact, as we develop our communication skills to navigate work relationships, we learn many phrases and expressions to soften our language and say things indirectly that otherwise could be said much more directly.
One of the world’s most revolutionary entertainment companies claims to owe its phenomenal success to just the opposite approach. At Netflix, constant innovation is the key and CEO Reed Hastings wants only the absolute best talent on the market in order to achieve it – he calls it ‘talent density’. To attract the most brilliant, creative, hard working people, Netflix pays them up to ten times the going rate and assures its select hires complete freedom (there are no vacation or expense policies). Netflix makes no promises of job security or long careers. Its model is that of a high-performance ‘team’ - not a ‘family’ - and among themselves they practice something called ‘radical candour’. It breaks down as follows:
-
Trust your team.
-
Be radically honest.
-
And never, ever try to please your boss.
If radical candour works for Netflix, could it work for other companies which also rely on innovation? There would be less need for translating the hidden messages lost in polite language. Most managers and colleagues could indeed be better at giving – and receiving – direct feedback. But, on the other hand, there is a lot to be said for coded communication as well. Work is where people learn to manage social interactions and transparency doesn’t necessarily work in all cultures.