Candor – The Fourth Core Value at Open Sky Group
The next core value I’d like to discuss is Candor. We define this core value as “frankness, not afraid to ask questions respectfully and the ability to hold others accountable.” None of our other core values (Attitude, Autonomy, Creativity, Caring, Mastery and Fun) could work as well without a healthy dose of candor from time to time.
Candor is the one core value that drives innovation in our company more than any other. We encourage a culture of asking questions. Not being afraid to question why we do things the way we do them. This ability to talk freely and frankly and be vulnerable without retaliation is essential to a continuous process improvement culture. If we don’t know its broken, we can’t fix it. It’s the candor value that makes people more comfortable having difficult conversations.
Candor improves personal relationships
Today we seem so afraid to offend someone that many people would think candor would result in a lot of personnel issues. We have found quite the opposite; it is our candor that improves our personal relationships! One of our employees told me that while no one likes to hear negative feedback, and no one is ever comfortable giving out that feedback, it is essential for the employee and manager relationship to work. She said that facing difficult issues with her manager and team members made her more productive and ultimately created a bond and trust with the people she worked with and for.
None of us are perfect at Open Sky Group. When you work with people who care about you and are willing to go outside of their comfort zone and offer feedback or hold others accountable, some really nice things happen. Our clients even notice this and often appreciate our willingness to have difficult conversations.
Be kind and respectful
Being respectful and kind is the key to not offending people with the use of candor. Difficult conversations happen behind closed doors. Our people know that mistakes happen and we fix the problem and not the blame. We also take our mistakes seriously and figure out how not to repeat them. This could not happen as well as it does if we did not embrace candor.
We encourage candor at every level. New team members express their appreciation of the fact that they can have open, honest conversations with everyone, at every level of Open Sky Group.
