Building a !
Culture of Candor!
Angelo Ioffreda!
Seventh Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
FHI 360 Conference Center, Washington, D.C.
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Building a !
Culture of Candor!
@io_spark
#KEYLEADERSHIPCONFERENCE2016
Angelo Ioffreda!
@AUKeyPrograms
@angellino
Seventh Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
FHI 360 Conference Center, Washington, D.C.
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
!
•  What is candor?!
!
•  Why candor?!
New expectations for leaders
AuthenLcity
ConversaLon
Candor
Transparency
Source:nbcwashington.com
“To me, this shows that [Metro], historically speaking, has
had a severe learning disability…Quite simply, they have
not been willing to learn from prior events…Learning
disabilities are tragic in children, but they are fatal in
organizations. And literally that is true in this case.”
–  Robert L. Sumwalt, NTSB
–  The Washington Post, May 3, 2016
NASA statement
•  "We honor [the Challenger astronauts] not
through bearing the burden of their loss, but by
constantly reminding each other to remain
vigilant…and to listen to those like Mr. Ebeling
who have the courage to speak up so that our
astronauts can safely carry out their missions.”
–  NASA statement on Mr. Bob Ebling, Morton Thiokol engineer
tormented by not being able to halt the Challenger launch
NPRFebruary25,2016
Discuss
•  What caused these situations at
Metro and NASA?!
•  What could be done to avoid
these kinds of situations in the
future?!
Dimensions of candor
Personal!
Systemic!
Personal dimension
Cultivate emotional intelligence
Oneself
Self
Awareness
Self
Management
Social
Awareness
RelaLonship
Management
18
Some things that get in the way
A
B
C
Drive to be
right
Drive for
harmony
Drive for
results
19
•  What is the leader’s role and
responsibility in creating a
culture of candor?!
Showing up as a leader
q  Self awareness !
q  Practice mindfulness!
q 
q 
q 
q 
q  Tell the truth!
!
q  Model the desired
behavior!
!
q  Being congruent in your
words and non-verbal
behavior!
q  Manage expectations!
q  Provide perspective,
educate, influence!
!
!
q  Embrace feedback and
disparate voices!
q  Don’t shoot the messenger!
q  Actively solicit it!
q  “Stress-test” ideas!
Centered l confident!
Non-judgmental listening!
Be deliberative!
Get comfortable with
being uncomfortable!
!
q  Have a bias for
transparency & openness!
q  Build trust!
Humble Inquiry
The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of
Telling
Edgar H. Schein!
!
Definition
“Humble Inquiry is the fine art of
drawing someone out, of asking
questions to which you do not
already know the answer, of
building a relationship based on
curiosity and interest in the other
person.”!
Why Humble Inquiry?
•  Our culture values “telling” and
knowing things.!
•  Task accomplishment is more
important than relationships.!
–  We like to “get to the point.”!
•  Having to ask can be perceived as
a sign of weakness or ignorance
and so is avoided.!
•  Status and power differences!
Tell
The Importance for Leaders
•  “This book…has special significance for
people in leadership roles because the art
of questioning becomes more difficult as
status increases. !
•  Our culture emphasizes that leaders must
be wiser, set direction, and articulate
values, all of which predisposes them to
tell rather than ask. !
•  Yet it is leaders who need Humble Inquiry
most because complex interdependent
tasks will require building positive,
trusting relationships…”!
“TrustisthehighestformofhumanmoBvaBon.Itbringsouttheverybestinpeople.ButittakesBmeandpaBence.”
--StephenR.Covey
“Trustisthehighestform
ofhumanmoBvaBon.It
bringsouttheverybestin
people.ButittakesBme
andpaBence.”
-StephenM.R.Covey
Organizational (system) dimension
“Perhaps the CEO’s most
important operational
responsibility is designing
and implementing the
communication
architecture for her
company.”!
- Ben Horowitz
PhotobyVitaVilcina
“A healthy company culture encourages
people to share bad news. A company that
discusses its problems freely and openly can
quickly solve them. A company that covers up
its problems frustrates everyone involved.
The resulting action item for CEOs: Build a
culture that rewards—not punishes—people
for getting problems into the open where they
can be solved.” •  Ben Horowitz, Co-founder of Andreesen Horowitz
Creating the right environment
www.hbr.org
The absence of conflict is not
harmony, it’s apathy.
How Management
Teams Can Have a
Good Fight
by Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, Jean L. Kahwajy, and
L.J. Bourgeois III
Included with this full-text Harvard Business Review article:
1 Article Summary
The Idea in Brief—the core idea
The Idea in Practice—putting the idea to work
2 How Management Teams Can Have a Good Fight
10 Further Reading
A list of related materials, with annotations to guide further
exploration of the article’s ideas and applications
Reprint 97402
Creating systems
q  Build an ethical
trustworthy culture that
rewards openness &
civility!
q  Provide skill development to
engage in positive conflict!
!
q  Foster a positive attitude
towards candor, e.g., “in
the service of”!
q  Develop robust feedback
channels!
q  Acknowledge that people have
been heard and!
q  Take action!
!
q  Leverage your values and
brand!
q  Create channels and
practices for diverse
voices!
q  Do NOT shoot the
messenger!!
q  Reward divergent voices!
q  “Stress-test” ideas!
q  Look for disconfirming
information!
!
q  Create systems to share
information!
!
q  Share metrics l facts!
q  Get everyone on the same
page!
Discussion
Candor
Civility
Openness
Constraints
Key takeaways
①  Model the way!
②  Practice mindfulness!
③  Use Humble Inquiry!
④  Build systems and practices that
make candor the norm!
⑤  Practice mutual respect and
civility to build and sustain trust!
Thank you!!
Angelo Ioffreda!
chiefengagementofficer
iosparkcommunicaBons
[email protected]