Being a boss is a full-time job and is not as easy as it seems.
The truth is, being the boss can be an emotional rollercoaster.
It requires maturity, focus and emotional discipline, especially when dealing with people.
That is why Kim Scott has established a few principles that can help bosses create a culture of candor, build stable relationships and evolve into great bosses.
According to Kim Scott, managers, leaders or bosses:
- Achieve results.
- Deal with people.
- Express what they think.
- Build and guide cohesive teams.
- Accept and give fair and candid feedback.
As you can see, Kim Scott makes no distinction between a boss, a leader and a manager because eventually, they have to assume different roles and master different skills at different moments.
They all have to find out a way to get what they want by saying what they mean.
Radical Candor: How to Get What You Want by Saying What You Mean
Why and how to build relationships?
The relationships you have with your team determine your level of success, company culture, and performance.
To build great relationships that will help your business:
- Take care of yourself first.
- Stay centered and create a healthy work life balance.
- Find out what works best for you and apply it.
- Care personally about people.
- Respect boundaries and people physical space. It is detrimental to find a balance between creating personal yet professional bonds.
- Spend time alone with your team members.
- Stay true to your values and share them if possible.
- Be transparent and aware of your emotions.
- Discipline your reactions. Learn to respond and not react.
Why and how to build a great team?
People’s motivations are personal.
Every team member can be exceptional, they just have to find the right fit and the right motivations.
Needless to say, work life is better when your team loves what they do.
To build a great team:
- Get to know the people on your team. Focus more on them than on results.
- Understand people’s strength and weaknesses, identify how they tick and how their job fits into their life plan.
- Avoid micromanaging or ignoring your team members.
- Allocate as much time to those who are struggling as the top performers.
- Listen to your team members, learn to incorporate their thinking into yours, and give them the opportunity to complain, share ideas, and raise issues. This way, you will create a culture of innovation.
Why and how to accept/give feedback?
Feedback is an uncomfortable process. To accept and give proper feedback:
- Earn your team’s trust.
- Listen more than you speak.
- Understand what motivates your team and help them avoid burnout or boredom.
- Understand your audience and adapt to it.
- See feedback as an act of guidance and don’t make it personal.
- Solicit feedback especially in private conversations and outside of meetings.
- Voice your own disagreements. Speak up when things are not going well.
- Take responsibility fo your actions and admit when you have made a mistake
- Discern the truth from a lie when it comes to feedback.
- Be humble in your delivery and state that you want to help.
Why and how to achieve results?
Every boss wants results. To achieve results:
- Have frequent one on one conversation with your team and with a positive mindset. Have a one on one conversation with your team members to get to know them, to solve problems effectively and to help you understand what is working and what is not.
- Create key metrics to measure progress. Write down any possible updates.
- Create meetings where you can debate, encourage new ideas and make big decisions.
- Test out the feasibility of the ideas you have received.
Review
Radical Candor: How to Get What You Want by Saying What You Mean By Kim Scott is a step by step guide on how to be a candid boss.
It is about building candid relationships with the people you work with and about using your humanity as a leadership tool.
Radical Candor: How to Get What You Want by Saying What You Mean By Kim Scott essentially takes the pressure off leaders.
The principles shared expose candor as a management tool, put bosses at ease and help them understand that there is more to being a boss than giving orders.
In addition, the principles shared remove fear, self-doubt and anxiety, then create an understanding regarding the role of a boss.
Furthermore, Kim Scott uses her own experiences at Google and Adsense to drive the conversation and to illustrate her ideas about radical candor.
She provides amazing tools and techniques to implement in order to be a great boss and to have a healthy relationship with your direct reports.
Her tools and techniques are detailed and are not exclusive to bosses.
Finally, the best thing about this book is that you can tell that Kim Scott cares about the career advancement and the emotional health of every boss.
Through radical candor, she demonstrates how to improve all aspects of your work life.
You don’t have to implement every tool or technique right away.
Let me know below what you think about this book!
Favorite quote(s)
In order to build a great team, you need to understand how each person’s job fits into their life goals
The way you treat people determines whether you’ll get their best effort, a perfunctory effort, or an effort to sabotage you.
Ratings 3/5
Author
Journey To Leadership is the premier source for everything Leadership. It focuses on career advice, leadership and character development. Get the latest here!
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