Leadership Series – Speaking Candidly

If you’ve ever had an awkward or uncomfortable conversation with someone, it might be due to the fact that your message was missing candor.  In other words, you were lacking the ability to speak plainly, with respect of course, but also not holding back.

The ability to speak candidly, especially as a leader, allows you to get your point across without being too harsh.  It reinforces your credibility and establishes your leadership presence.

Unfortunately, the ability to find the balance between being professional and speaking candidly, is often missing in leadership today.  The inability to be authentic and to not be a watered down, edited version of yourself in your leadership role, often leads to the inability to support truth and candor for yourself and others.

By not learning how to speak candidly, you also create an environment where others are suspicious of your intent.  When you’re not speaking candidly you don’t maintain objectivity, you do not offer specifics or examples, you beat around the bush, you “protect” someone from the truth, and your message isn’t clear.

Learning to speak candidly also means learning to listen candidly as well.  It’s learning to hold space for others to share truthfully and openly, offering them an opportunity to be heard in a way that they may not experience anywhere else.  Listening candidly means listening without an agenda.

To become a better leader you also need to become aware of the “filters” you often use when listening, and drop the preconceived notions you have about who you are listening to and what they’re saying.  Speaking and listening candidly, as well as allowing others to do the same takes courage, but it’s well worth the discomfort.

In order to be a better leader, you need to be willing to be open, honest, and vulnerable.  You need to be an example of candor so that others have the opportunity to trust you and be willing to be open, honest, and vulnerable with you as well.  The truth is that when you become more comfortable with being uncomfortable, you become a better leader.  

Let’s be honest – the world needs better leaders at work and at home.  Are you ready to become a better leader?

Source – “The 15 Commitments Of Conscious Leadership”