Does ‘open’ lead to hurt feelings?
Open leadership won’t be successful if people don’t respect each other.
Leaders can come from anywhere in an organization, and anyone can step up into a leadership role. That’s what open leadership is all about. We’ve discussed open organizations and open leadership at Coaching Buttons, including sharing articles from open organization ambassadors. Last year, we shared two books about open leadership: Open Leaders Yearbook highlights our community of open leaders and shares their lessons and viewpoints, and Leadership in Open Organizations collects many outstanding articles from Ron McFarland as an Open Organization Ambassador.
We wanted to share another resource from the Open Organization Ambassadors. This roundtable discussion of “Ask the Ambassadors” answers a question about open organizations: Can the candid feedback and candid dialogue of ‘open’ lead to harsh conversations and hurt feelings?
Watch for these points in the video:
Candid does not mean cruel: Ben Cotton emphasizes that there is a significant difference between being honest and being unnecessarily blunt or mean.
Compassionate communication: You can deliver candid feedback in a kind and considerate way. Jen Kelchner emphasizes that this requires intentionality and effort from everyone involved.
Poor leaders set a bad example: Many people have had negative experiences with poor leaders in the past, which makes the prospect of vulnerability in feedback intimidating.
Make it a safe space: Cultivating a healthy environment requires psychological safety and a collective commitment to understanding how to navigate discourse without causing unnecessary pain.
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