Welcome to Friday 411, issue #146. In 4 minutes, with 1 insight and 1 action, you’ll know how to spot clarity problems before they sink your team.
1 Insight
Most leaders think they’re clear. Their teams disagree.
This week, we are in Washington D.C. with an amazing group of leaders. We’ve been walking through the monuments and museums, experiencing the legacies of historical figures such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Each one of these leaders had something in common. They saw the future before anyone else did. They painted a picture so clear and compelling that people couldn’t help but follow.
Thomas Jefferson once said, “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”
That’s what great leaders do. They see a clear, preferred, and desired future. And they make it so real that other people start to see it, too.
Here’s what we’ve noticed after years of developing leaders: Most leaders think they’re clear about the future. But their teams disagree. The vision that flows crystalline through your head often tumbles muddy out of your mouth.
Seven Signs You Have a Clarity Issue
- Your team can’t articulate where the organization is headed.
Ask five people on your team where the company is going. If you get five different answers, you have more than a clarity problem. You have a clarity crisis.
- People are busy but not aligned.
Activity is not the same as progress. If everyone is working hard but pulling in different directions, busyness is masking the real issue.
- You have too many priorities.
Research has shown if you have more than three priorities at any time, you have too many. Anything more than three creates confusion and waters down the time and energy that your team has to work on them.
- Your team doesn’t understand their role in the bigger picture.
When President Kennedy toured NASA in 1962, he met a janitor carrying a broom. Kennedy asked what he did. The janitor said, “I’m helping put a man on the moon.”
That’s clarity.
When your people can’t connect their daily work to something bigger, you’ve got a problem.
- You keep changing direction without explaining why.
Plans should change. Priorities shouldn’t. At least not often. When you shift direction without telling people why, trust erodes. People stop believing the next big thing is actually the big thing.
- Decisions take forever because everyone has different criteria.
When people don’t know what matters most, every decision turns into a debate. Clarity gives your team a filter. Without it, they’re guessing.
- Your people don’t feel hopeful about the future.
This one matters more than most leaders realize. Gallup surveyed over 72,000 followers across 52 countries and asked them to identify the greatest contribution of an admired leader. The number one answer? Hope. Fifty-six percent said hope. When your team lacks clarity about the future, hope disappears. Engagement soon follows it out the door.
If you recognized your team in three or more of these signs, clarity is your issue. The good news? It’s fixable. But it starts with you.
1 Action
Score yourself on a scale of 1 to 5 on each of the seven signs above. The areas where you score lowest are where your clarity work begins.