Clarity the Antidote to Certainty

What is one of the most important things you can have as a leader?

Clarity.

Clarity is not the same thing as certainty. Rather clarity is what helps you navigate the uncertainty, the ambiguity that comes with growing a business (and today’s world!).

Without clarity (the list is long but here are a few not so great outcomes), you see sluggish innovation or misplaced innovation, higher turnover, less collaboration, more inefficiency, less productivity  and long-term impacts to your bottom line as a result.

How can you provide that clarity? Here are 3 places to start.

Clarity of Purpose

The most important of all, clarity of purpose and the effective communication of that purpose to your team. Are you clear, as the leader, on your “why”? Not “what” you do. Not the problem you solve. But your “why”.

Telling that story in a clear and compelling way to your team will build motivation and commitment to the work. Do they know what success looks like and how they will feel when the company is fulfilling its purpose?

It must be at the center of everything that everyone does – both the daily tasks, activities related to short-term projects and longer-term priorities. As discreet as a weekly meeting. Does everyone on your team know why you have called the meeting? Is there an agenda that was set with intention? Can you tie to an objective?

Purpose provides a context for the strategy, the priorities, and allocation of resources. A guide for decision-making and judgement calls.

With a common performance goal that everyone knows and understands, you create cohesion among your team. How do you know if your team understands your vision? What words do they use to describe the company’s purpose to their direct reports or what do they say on social media? What questions are the asking? You want to hear questions that show they value clarity both organizational and personal.

Clarity of Plan & People (Roles and Responsibilities)

Your purpose provides the foundation for your strategy. Your strategy breaks down into 3-5 business objectives for the year, let’s say. You create a plan for executing on those objectives.

To successfully execute, there has to be clarity around roles and responsibilities. Does everyone know what role they play in the execution of the plan? Do they know what they are responsible for – which tasks? Do they know how those tasks tie to the business objective? What KPIs have you put in place and do they know why they are important? Do they understand where they fit in the broader purpose? How they contribute to success?

Does everyone know who is the ultimate owner of a task or an objective? When decisions need to be made do people know by when, and who needs to be involved?

With clarity around roles and responsibilities you create synergies among team members. Imagine if nobody knows who does what or who owns what decisions. It’s mayhem. It’s energy sucking and a morale killer.

Clarity Around Priorities

With big, bold goals comes endless things you could be doing. Does your team know what the priorities are?

If not, they will become overwhelmed. They will spread their energy and attention too thin, not really moving the needle on any one thing. Maybe they focus on what seems urgent or most feasible. Those activities may not be what will produce the greatest value.

Are they connecting priorities to business goals or fundamental problems the company needs to solve for? When faced with challenges, do your team members agree on what problems need to be solved and in which order?

Are you seeing the innovation you need to stay competitive? If your team doesn’t know what the priorities are, they may not be generating ideas and energy around your most important goals/problems, or they are misplacing that innovation on things that matter less.

As you can see clarity is key to creating value and executing on your purpose. As a leader your job is to provide that clarity which starts with personal clarity (a topic for another day!). Sorry for the cliff hanger!