You can read Nicole's full article at the link below, but here's Nicole's Five Quick Tips, and my thoughts:

Quick reminders to deliver honest conversations effectively:

• Good intent – you are doing the right thing by an individual to share constructive feedback that will assist them to improve, grow and perform.
• Direct communication – be straight and don't 'soften' or confuse your message with more words and dialogue than is necessary.
• Deliver your message and then stop. Don't be afraid of the pause. Avoid personalisation and emotion – this is not about someone's personality or traits, this is about behaviours.
• Be specific – use real and immediate observations, not what you've heard second-hand on the grapevine.
• Action – what is the behaviour you want to see, or a system put in place, to ensure the desired behaviour is implemented going forward?

As a manager of people you have an obligation to your business, yourself and your employees to manage them well. And as funny as it sounds - at times you need to be upfront with customers too.

By avoiding action, procrastinating or simply failing to deliver what you actually mean to say - you are letting your employees or customers down.

• How can your underperforming employee lift performance if you don't tell them it's below par?
• How does a late paying client understand the impact on your business / staff / other customers unless you credit control them?
• How can an employee with body odour adjust their hygene routine if no-one tells them?

Being upfront with customers and staff can at times be challenging - really challenging - but it also builds loyalty, mutual respect and long term respect based on trust.

How is this relevant to recruitment?
Delivering negative feedback to highly motivated job applicants can be extremely difficult - but that is part of the service we provide our clients. We do this by being honest, providing accurate feedback, not attacking the person, being respectful and providing opprtunities for personal development.

Yes - our team will often ask interviewers for much more feedback than you initially think we'll need because we deliver really constructive feedback to job-seekers who are motivated and keen. This allows the proactive ones to realign and hone their skills - often being employed by the same employers because a previous rejection was well managed.

Are there opportunities in your professional day to add honesty into your conversations for customers, staff or colleagues?