What Can I Do To Get 1% Better?
THE ANSWER: CLARIFY.
Last week on Day 92, we talked about one of the primary responsibilities of a leader: Achieve Results. But results don’t just happen. If we want to consistently achieve results, we need three things: Clarity, Accountability, and Support. Over the next three weeks, we are going to break down each one. Today, we start with CLARITY.
Clarity is simply the elimination of confusion and uncertainty. As leaders, we can never assume people know what we know, see what we see, or understand what we understand. Just because we said something doesn’t mean we created clarity. Communication is not complete when you say it. Communication is complete when they understand it.
That means our responsibility as leaders is not simply to deliver a message. Our responsibility is to create understanding in the other person. Sometimes that means saying it again. Sometimes we need to demonstrate it, show an example, ask a question, or explain it in a completely different way. Be willing to use whatever approach is necessary to create understanding, because clarity is not established until there is understanding.
There are five questions everyone wants answered: Where are we? Where are we going? How are we going to get there? What is my role? How are we doing? If people don’t know the answers to those questions, uncertainty begins to creep in. And when people are uncertain, they hesitate, make assumptions, or begin creating their own answers. Great leaders eliminate as much of that uncertainty as possible.
Those five questions need to be answered at three different levels: your 20 square feet, your unit, and your team. Your 20 square feet represents you. Are you clear about where you are, where you are going, what you need to do, what your role is, and how you are performing? Your unit is the group you directly influence—your position group, department, staff, classroom, family, or team within the team. Finally, there is the overall organization. The goal is to create clarity at all three levels. I need to know what WE are trying to accomplish, but I also need to know what I need to do to help us accomplish it.
That leads to an idea I really like called Vision Squared. It is the combination of the team’s vision multiplied by an individual’s vision for helping make it come alive. A vision written on a wall doesn’t accomplish anything by itself. People make the vision come alive. Every person needs to understand the larger vision and then be able to see themselves in it. Where do I fit? What can I contribute? What does winning look like in my 20 square feet?
There is another important part of vision and clarity: people have to buy into you before they will fully buy into your vision. Leadership is built on trust and relationships. People are far more likely to follow the direction when they trust the person giving it. That is why who we are as leaders matters just as much as what we say.
Vision can also become something we think is always somewhere out in the future. But the future is built today. Vision is understanding what it takes TODAY to create the TOMORROW we want. You don’t have to wait until you get the promotion, become the starter, get the title, or receive the opportunity you want. Start where you are. Know your role. Do your job. Be elite where you are.
Finally, clarity and communication are choices. We can be inactive and avoid the conversation. We can be reactive and wait until there is a problem, then respond emotionally or impulsively. Or we can be proactive—disciplined, intentional, and willing to communicate before confusion becomes a problem. Elite leaders choose to be proactive.
So here is today’s 1% Better Challenge: Look at the people you lead and ask yourself, “Where is there confusion that I have the ability to eliminate?” Don’t assume they know. Don’t assume they understand. Don’t assume someone else told them. CLARIFY.
When people understand where we are, where we are going, how we are going to get there, what their role is, and how we are doing, they can stop guessing and start executing.
And execution is how we ACHIEVE RESULTS.
Never Stop Getting Better.
John Perry
Source/Concepts: Brian Kight, The Culture Guru