This post is in response to a podcast produced by Ted and titled ‘Work Life’. It is a podcast written and hosted by organizational psychologist Adam Grant in which he goes to different organizations throughout the world to report on a work practice that makes them successful in a unique way. It is a very insightful podcast and can be found by following this link:
TED: Work Life
This first episode was about a financial firm whose founder adopted a strategy known as radical transparency to make his one of the most successful hedge funds in the nation. His reasoning for forming a culture based so heavily on criticism was due a previous failure. He claims that his original business failed because he was not surrounded by people who would challenge his opinion at all; they would only agree with him or not speak up at all. Because of this, the boss eventually failed because no one ever challenged him or gave him a second opinion on his decisions.
For his next business venture, this same man stated that he ‘needed to find the smartest people who disagreed with him’. He knew that a diverse group of minds was going to make his new company more successful than the last. To build off this diversity, a culture needed to be created where criticism was encouraged and almost required. This is where the idea of radical transparency comes into play. With radical transparency, the employees are told to criticize everyone, from the boss to the newest employee, on their performance creating an environment where everyone is constantly improving themselves based on the feedback they are getting.
The typical reaction to receiving criticism is to take it as a direct hit to our personality and character. When this happens, our mood gets worse, and we begin to antagonize the person who is giving the criticism. With the system of radical transparency put into place, however, the person receiving the criticism knows and understands that the criticism is for their benefit and, if taken and analyzed properly, will help them to get results.
Based on the structure of the Army and the chain of command, this criticism can be hard to communicate. We want to make our organization a better place, but it can be hard to criticize a superior without being disrespectful. On the other hand, as a leader it can be hard to listen to and reflect upon the criticism we get from those around us without it hurting out ego too much. Keeping our ego in check is the most important part of positively receiving criticism, and this is very difficult for many of our soldiers.
Please comment with your opinions and thought on criticism and what your advice is for both giving it and receiving it. Also, if you have any experiences where criticism greatly affected your performance, for better or worse, please share those.
Thank you!