In any workplace, candor drives clarity, alignment, and growth. When people avoid tough conversations, withhold or sugarcoat feedback, or talk around the real issues, it slows progress or things start to break. But a culture of honesty and directness doesn’t just happen — it has to be designed into how the organization operates. A high-candor culture isn’t a vibe or a value — it’s a system.
At Garner, we’ve architected a system that makes candor a natural, everyday part of how we work. This 3-step cycle lays out the framework we’ve used to operationalize a high-candor culture — one that can be adapted to the cultural goals of any organization.
Step 1 – Expectations: codify candor clearly, and where it matters.
Countless companies list candor in their values or operating principles — let’s call that Step 0. The first step toward operationalizing a high-candor culture is clearly articulating the specific behaviors that entails. It sounds obvious, but it’s worth stating: people can’t meet expectations that aren’t defined.
Define the behaviors. Employees need to understand what “candor” means for your organization. Often, it’s not about saying whatever’s on your mind without a filter. Should feedback be direct but delivered with care and empathy? Should it be actionable? Are there appropriate or inappropriate settings? How soon should concerns be raised, and to whom? Equally important is setting standards for receiving feedback — what does a healthy reaction, self-reflection, and integration look like? Candor falls flat if no one knows how to handle it.
Tailor expectations by role or level. Define how standards vary by job type, level, or career stage—outlined through a cultural competency framework. What does candor look like for an entry-level employee? A manager? An executive? For example, Garner’s competencies progress from flagging individual issues, to surfacing recurring themes and pushing to resolve them, to delivering developmental feedback across levels, to creating an environment where candor thrives. Level-specific expectations help embed candor in a way that’s relevant, attainable, and impactful for each person’s responsibilities.
Embed in decision-making systems. Like any key skill, these expectations must be integrated into the systems that drive decisions — hiring rubrics, performance reviews, development plans, and promotion criteria. This is critical: a value or competency isn’t truly operationalized until it shapes who you hire, how you grow people, and who you reward.
Step 2 – Mechanisms: design feedback opportunities into the flow of work.
Once expectations are clear, build systems that make candor a natural part of work. Provide clear, structured opportunities — or even requirements — to practice candor. Structure gives people reps that build the muscle to give feedback in unstructured, everyday moments. Formal feedback mechanisms help normalize informal candor, so over time, people do it naturally on their own.
Create opportunities. This could take the form of feedback prompts in one-on-ones, 360 feedback during reviews, non-anonymous company or team surveys, and project retrospectives. Determine the natural cadences — or new mechanisms to introduce — that create the opportunity for candor.
Design the prompts. Craft questions that draw honesty and make it easier to address tough topics. For example, in our peer and upward feedback prompts, we ask, “What can this person improve on?” and make it a required question. This signals that everyone has development areas and it’s each person’s responsibility to help peers — and senior leaders — grow.
Assess and adapt. Giving feedback alone isn’t enough — it must align with your cultural competencies and add real value. Regularly review the feedback quality and delivery: Is it honest? Actionable? Thoughtful? Spot what’s working and what’s not. Refine prompts, coach where needed, and continuously improve both your systems and your people.
Step 3 – Enablement: equip and empower people to do it well.
Most people aren’t naturally skilled at giving or receiving feedback — it’s a learned behavior. We’ve heard employees say they have been penalized in a past role for giving critical feedback to a senior leader. They need to trust not only that candor is expected in your organization, but that they can do it effectively — and that it will be welcomed.
Invest in training. Teach why candor matters and how to practice it well — both in giving and receiving. Let people observe, dissect, and practice examples of strong vs. weak feedback. Give feedback on the feedback.
Make it real. Use real, non-scripted case studies to ground training in your company’s context. For example, at Garner’s recent company offsite, we led a culture training for 200+ attendees using a real meeting recording. We prompted poll responses at key moments throughout the video and guided targeted discussions on how each stakeholder approached the issue. The session concluded with the actual meeting participants sharing their own reflections — highlighting our values of transparency and self-reflection. People said this exercise not only taught tangible behaviors but demonstrated that candor at Garner is a lived practice embedded in how we operate.
Introduce early, revisit often. Cultural onboarding is the moment to set the tone and establish expectations. But it shouldn’t stop there — regularly assess how the culture plays out and offer targeted refresher training at least annually.
Model and reinforce the behavior. Leaders need to be at the forefront of demonstrating candor aligned with your cultural standards. Just as critical is reinforcing it — recognizing and celebrating when others do it well. The harder the feedback was to give, the more important it is to acknowledge. That can be as simple as saying, “Thanks for the feedback,” every time. When someone gives thoughtful, constructive input, highlight it publicly. Show that candor isn’t just accepted — it’s valued.
Conclusion
A high-candor culture is built through a system of clear expectations, embedded mechanisms, and ongoing enablement. As you observe and reinforce behaviors, you’ll uncover what’s working — and what’s not — creating a continuous feedback loop that sharpens the expectations set at the start. That’s why operationalizing candor is a cycle, not a one-time initiative. It takes intention and consistency to sustain a culture that accelerates progress.
By Nadia Uberoi, Head of People at Garner Health.
