It’s tempting, when managing a group (or even just one individual) to water down criticism or advice in the interest of being likable. Tempting, and very human. Who doesn’t want to be liked?
The trouble is that sparing an individual from critique, while it seems friendly, is one of the worst things you can do in an environment where results matter. Observations, tweaks, corrections, even criticism all serve a course-correcting purpose. In their absence the course is never corrected and you’re likely to end up anywhere other than where you hoped you’d land.
You might end up being well-liked by the people you think you’re shielding. But the odds are very good that you’ll find yourself growing to resent them. Small behaviors, habits, and mistakes that go uncorrected will fester and grow. You encourage what you allow, and what you allow becomes the rule. Before long you’ll look at those who you could have helped in a myriad of small ways over the preceding months and years and wonder how they ended up performing so badly. Their affection for you will seem like a poor exchange for what you’ve got.
Eventually you’ll be faced with choices. Do you fire these folks who haven’t lived up to the expectations that you never set in the first place? You can try to catch up on all the criticism and coaching that you passed on earlier, but by now it’s not just a series of small nudges that’s needed but instead a radical renovation. You could quit and find different people to manage somewhere else — but you’ll be surprised to find that eventually that new crew will face all the same challenges and shortfalls that your original group did, and you’ll wonder why you always end up with such a bunch of slackers.
Or you can eschew being liked and trust that if you’re honest, clear, and dispassionate in your critiques and coaching that you’ll be liked by the right people. You might end up being feared or disliked by the others, but do you really want those people to stick around? Or do you just want everyone to like you?