vsbabu.org

Culture of candor

Instilling a Culture of Corporate Candor: “There’s only one solution to the crisis of confidence in American business, writes columnist Warren Bennis: executives and boards that insist on honesty, openness and tolerance of dissent.”

It doesn’t pay to aspire for a culture where being gentle to people’s feelings is more important than the truth.

via Simon Brunning -> Phil Windley.

I think I can relate to these! Some how, atleast in USA, it is perceived that team play is everything. And if you say things that people don’t want to hear, you are arrogant, not a team player and cynical. May be technology is seen as a football field? Knowledge workers need to be managed differently, because you can’t solve a problem faster if you just throw more people at it. You need to throw more *quality* people at problems. My definition of quality in this field includes flexibility, learnability and ability to analyse logically - I don’t think knowing syntax for 4-5 languages is everything.

Must be a cultural thing, because very few people agree with me here, when I say conflict can be a very good thing. I have had really good conflict of opinions with some of the best people I know - but it was never personal. All parties involved wanted to get the same thing done, in the best and most efficient way possible. Conflict usually happens in the opinions about design and implementation. The end result? The best design and implementation that the group could think off, with as many negative possibilities eliminated right at the beginning. And regardless of the difference in opinion, the group members remain the people I most admire and respect.

Contrast this with a happy team, where every one is smiling, discussing others' personal issues, looking for "fun" things out of work to do. When it comes to work related issues, disagreements are quickly thought of as a something bad for the team spirit. Personally, people can really form good teams, if their goals are similar. Personal goals and preferences need not be similar, so going out for a beer on a regular basis is not necessarily going to help build honesty when it comes to work related issues. Encourage people who speak up about the issues, with a requirement that they need to explain why they consider issues to be issues, and then you’ve a great team.

To borrow from Soichiro Honda, I’d say “Action without teams is not lasting. Teams without action is worthless”. With that in mind, my definition of a great team would consist of people who get things done, take initiative to do things (not arm chair critics who only give suggestions) and managers who give immediate and proportionate feedback.

1. "Contrast this with a happy team, where every one is smiling, discussing others' personal issues, looking for "fun" things out of work to do."

   Gah! Sounds like working in an episode from 'Friends'.

   Posted by: Simon Brunning on September 13, 2002 05:42 AM