The topic that has caught my interest for this week is honesty. Are you always honest with your colleagues? Are you honest when it comes to what you can and cannot undertake? Do you own up to your weaknesses? Do you show your fears? Do you go through a week or a month without telling a white lie? Do you always challenge your manager or staff when it is appropriate? Do you avoid misleading your internal customers?
I believe in brutal honesty and I am therefore more than happy with people being brutally honest with me, as I do not take it personally (its business) and I do not hold grudges. However, I am certain that the majority of people would answer ‘no’ to the questions above and I think that the key reason for this is more about the recipient not being able to handle the truth, than the person delivering the message.
Wouldn’t it be great if you were working in a mature office environment where you could share all of your thoughts in the confidence that brutal honesty is celebrated? Often brutal honesty comes out when alcohol has been flowing! Those occurrences tend to be the most ‘real’ and productive conversations, so it would make logical sense if we looked at identifying this as a strategic objective to be achieved across an organisation without being intoxicated (being drunk shouldn’t be the only way to create an open dialogue).
You may not be in a position where you can influence the entire company or department but you can make a pact with a group of people that you need to work with on a regular basis. Agree the ground rules such as all views are valid, anything can be discussed, it is ok to ask for help, no grudges will be held, the more open the better, heated discussions can be a good thing, brutal honesty will be celebrated.
The above will not be easy and it will not be attained without a few teething issues, and therefore several small steps will be required before reaching the panacea, but once there, it will be a great environment to work within. What do you think?
Feedback and comments are always welcome!
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16th February 2010
Hi Alim
Great post.
I too value brutal honesty, as long as it is constructive and delivered tactfully. What I find amusing though Alim is your reference to alcohol being a liberator of truth! (Which no doubt it is).
Ah bad habits... I know of another one that can prove useful in the office. In The Opposite of Luck we talk at length about the wide-ranging benefits of cross-functional teams. Testers talking with DBAs, Developers talking with Marketing, SysAdmins talking with Accounting, etc. So much fantastic knowledge sharing and idea generation when that happens.
And as it turns out, the people who tend to be most cross-functional are... smokers! They stand outside with people from all over the company getting networked and knowledgeable, several times a day. They always know everything first. So next time you need to find a contact or the latest scoop, offer your friend a light, eh?
I don't smoke personally but have often mused that it would be beneficial to establish fake smoking teams and just go outside and chew a stick of gum or something.
So, smoking, drinking... any other beneficial vices for IT out there?
Chris Oleson
Seattle, USA
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