Being tactful and nonjudgmental when broaching a touchy topic is not easy. Like most people at the giving end of critical feedback, your goal is to cultivate an ally not make an enemy.
Ultimately, you want people to be open about their concerns especially when something is amiss. Withholding the truth sets up boundaries and discourages the further exploration of differing points of view.
Communicating honestly, even when it raises tempers, ultimately pulls people together and builds trust.
Your purpose in seeking the truth, then, is to get people to take remedial action to fix what's wrong, not to fix blame. But none of this will happen if what you say doesn't match what you mean. Dancing around the truth may avoid hurt feelings, but it doesn't change behavior.
If you expect people to communicate honestly, you may have to show them how to share their concerns, ask difficult questions and face up to the issues that are keeping them from telling each other the truth.
Note: Truth telling is risky work, but the payoff is worth it.
V.O.R.
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