Sterling Terrell

recovering economist

Transparent Language, Honest Language

Transparent Language, Honest Language

Transparent language can be great.

And it is completely necessary with underperforming employees, family, friends, and nearly everyone else.

In truth, transparency and honesty comes quite naturally to me.

I tend to just say what I think in a dry and blunt way.

This is, however, not always so wonderful. For honesty should come in both the proper composition and tone.

Because you can be honest, but you can also come across as a jerk.

I don’t have a linked post to point to yet on this, but this reminded me of a passage from Anne Lamott in her classic book Bird By Bird: “You don’t always have to chop with the sword of truth. You can point with it, too.”

Kim Scott, in her book Radical Candor , frames this concept in terms of a matrix: She outlines one of the most important things to remember when it comes to transparency: you need to balance it with empathy. If I tell you I hate your haircut, I’m being transparent. I’m also being an asshole.

-Rand Fishkin, Lost And Founder

Dealing With Underperforming Employees

Dealing With Underperforming Employees

Underperforming employees can be such a nightmare to deal with, can’t they?

I think the most important part is to still remember their humanity. Love them first, and have a soft heart about your dealings with them.

It is so easy to forget that others do not have our same experiences and motivations.

They likely have, different parents, a different upbringing, different values instilled in them, a different college experience, a different last job, different experiences with past bosses and corporate culture, different values, and different ambitions.

At the end of the day, of course, you may have to let them go, but I think this passage below is spot on.

Transparency is necessary.

“We are looking for X from you and we are getting Y. Let’s talk about how we can fix this.”

If there’s an underperforming person on your team, it’s easy to ignore him for a while and hope his manager either helps him improve or fires him. It’s much harder and more uncomfortable to thoughtfully process why you’re unhappy with him, document instances of unwanted behavior, have a direct conversation with the team member, and, if necessary, coach him or work to find mentorship/coaching/classes (whatever it takes to give him the tools to get better if he has the desire). It could still end up that you (or his manager) may have to ultimately fire him. That’s the thing with transparency: sometimes, the outcome is the same, but how you got there, and the downside risk, is remarkably different.

-Rand Fishkin, Lost And Founder

Sterling Terrell