Ridge Insights - June 2006
Rigorous Candor
RIDGE INSIGHTS
A monthly e-brief from Ridge Training
Date: June 13, 2006
THIS MONTH
1. Welcome!
2. What We're Thinking About This Month -- Rigorous Candor
3. Resources for Creating Candor With Your Team
4. Questions of the Month
1. WELCOME!
Thanks for signing up to receive Ridge Insights. Each month we will send you a summary of our latest thinking from our work "on the Ridge" along with resources of interest. We hope these insights will stimulate your curiosity and support your desire for ongoing learning. Let us know what you think!
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2. WHAT WE'RE THINKING ABOUT: RIGOROUS CANDOR
Candor -- and how to create it -- is a hot topic these days. Jack Welch devotes an entire chapter to it in "Winning" as does Jim Collins in "Good to Great." (Collins calls it "confronting the brutal facts.") Ridge's CEO Jim Bolton tackled the topic at the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) international conference in Dallas last month. He defines rigorous candor as:
* An interpersonal process
* that promotes the authentic expression
* of different points of view
* in search of actionable wisdom.
Recalling the fable of the six blind men and the elephant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Men_and_an_Elephant) the goal is to have people see beyond their individual frames of reference and grasp the larger wisdom that lies within the group's combined knowledge.
To hear an audio clip of his presentation or download a Personal Candor Worksheet, click on the following link: www.ridge.com/news_04_06.html.
3. RIGOROUS CANDOR: RESOURCES
Believing that the small group is the unit of change, Jim's presentation on Rigorous Candor focused mainly on increasing candor at the group level. The key is to create sufficient openness for members to give their opinion and not withhold it. That requires trust, which is sometimes hard to come by.
If your group or team is lacking sufficient trust to practice rigorous candor, structured group processes can provide the guidelines people need to participate more openly. Three tools to consider are:
* Edward DeBono's "Six Thinking Hats." This process helps teams work with members' ideas in a way that is constructive and critical without getting personal. You can find a summary here [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Thinking_Hats].
Dr. DeBono has also written numerous books about this and related processes. A good starting point is his book by the same title.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/...
* The U.S. military uses "AARs" or "After Action Reviews" to debrief their learnings after an exercise or excursion. Here is an excellent summary. www.depts.ttu.edu/aged/leadership/leadaar.htm
* "Feedforward." Executive coach Marshall Goldsmith originated the term to distinguish between feedback offered about past behavior and feedback requested about future behavior (thus "feedforward"). To learn more, download an article about "feedforward" (it's the second article on the list). www.marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com/cim/articles_alpha.php
4. QUESTIONS OF THE MONTH
Right now: What do you do that facilitates candor in conversations important to you? To share a success or best practice, please use the form at this link to respond [form no longer available]. Use the word CANDOR for the topic.
For our next issue: What is your key challenge with coaching? To share a success or best practice, please use the form at this link to respond [form no longer available]. Use the word COACHING for the topic.
We'll use your responses to help create the next edition of "Ridge Insights."
We will not use this information for any other purpose without your permission.
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