Candor should be kind -- and necessary.

Wouldn't it be nice if people could talk and actually know what's being said?

Instead dodging or disguising hard truths, we'd speak up, speak out, and speak often. We'd put candor before comfort. Too often, it's the other way around: For some, it's an aversion to conflict. For others, it's the product of a feedback culture that plays "too nice." Whatever the cause, people end up ducking issues instead of addressing them directly.

Just to be clear, candor isn't a call for rudeness or a license to treat others badly. Quite the contrary: Candor can be kind, especially when it's delivered with care.

And in some cases, it can help avert major disasters.

In a 1984 study, NASA researchers examined ways to improve air flight safety. In one study, cockpit crews made up of a pilot, copilot, and navigator participated in flight simulations in which a potential crash situation occurred. The study found that pilots who acted solely on their intuition were much more likely to crash the plane than pilots who asked other crew members to weigh in before deciding how to respond.

But it wasn't just a matter of whether the pilot sought input from the crew. The underlying factor that determined flight safety was how often these open exchanges took place. Pilots and crewmembers with a history of candid give-and-take made fewer errors. They developed a cadence of candor that prevented operational mistakes from becoming irreversible disasters.

Here are a few ways you can create more candor in the workplace while still maintaining a high degree of caring and connection:

Name it

Call out the issues that are simmering beneath the surface. Ask others for their candid take on the issues that they're probably thinking about anyways but may be reluctant to express. Let people submit their concerns (anonymously, if necessary) in a shared document. Allow others to air their reservations in a drop box. When we make it safe to name the issue, we can tame the issue.

Shrink it

Size can be a candor killer. Consider breaking large meetings into smaller groups. Let each group hash out their questions and concerns, then appoint a spokesperson from each group to report back to the entire team. Smaller groups promote higher degrees of risk taking and increase the odds that more candid voices will be heard.

Model it

Leaders have an opportunity to take the lead and model candor for their teams. Let others know how you see things and share your rationale. "Here's where I'm sitting on this issue right now and I thought you'd want to know why." This is especially important for building a culture of candor, since leaders get the behaviors that they model. If we model candor, we get more transparency and trust.

Reward it

If we want more candor in the workplace, we should recognize people who personify it. Whether that's in a face-to-face conversation, an email, or (better yet) at a team meeting, thank these individuals for raising the issues that need to be discussed. Then turn that appreciation into an invitation to elicit even more candor from others. "This is a really important point. Can anyone else weigh in on how we might incorporate this in our planning?"

How we speak up matters, of course -- and doing so gracefully is part art, part smarts. But if we want to have the conversations that matter, we need more candor. We can't address what we don't acknowledge.