The Single Greatest Gift Successful Leaders Give
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I’ve seen frustrated leaders say things like, “That’s the way it’s going to be.” It’s their end game when confused or resistant people push them. It works with two year olds who fear punishment. It works with employees who have a high need to please. Regardless, leadership by decree indicates loss of leadership.
Warning signs:
- Why are we changing?
- Where are we going?
- I don’t know why we bother doing this.
- What’s the reason for this procedure?
These questions and others like them indicate confusion. Confusion destroys influence. Act quickly or you’ll be tempted to treat people like two year olds, “Mommy says it’s going to be that way.”
Ambiguity:
Ambiguity drains. Lack of clarity paralyzes. I’ve had that – trapped in the corner and the walls are pressing in – feeling. I bet you have too. Why do we feel that way?
We feel trapped when we can’t see the path to success. One thing is certain, regardless of the definition, everyone wants to succeed, everyone.
Leaders create clarity by pressing through confusion, not running from it. Confusion is opportunity.
Definition determines direction:
Leaders define success before it happens. By doing so, you point the way. If you can’t clearly define success in language that connects, you’re running in circles.
The greatest gift:
Clarity is the greatest gift you give.
Clarity:
- Frees people.
- Focuses energy.
- Facilitates small wins.
- Fuels momentum.
Simplicity creates clarity. Ask, “How can I simplify my message?”
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What suggestions for creating clarity do you have?
What do leaders do that causes confusion?
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More on Clarity: “15 Potent Strategies for Fighting Confusion”
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Dear Dan,
I agree and appreciate your view that clarity connects and creates path to succeed. Confusion is the opportunity. I also believe that knowing everything beforehand blocks opportunity and creativity. It is true that we can not know everything, but we can pretend knowing everything. when people pretend to know everything, actually they confuse themselves and others as well. It happens when people are incompetent and fearful. So, leaders should strop pretending what they do not have. They should admit what they have what they do not. This creates clarity. I believe that clarity comes form simplicity. Complexity is sign of creating space between you and others.
Creating confusion could be strategy for leaders but weakness for manipulators. When leaders create confusion, they compel others to come out with their best effort. But when manipulators confuse, it could be because they do not know the things or they pretend to know everything, and that is dangerous. One should be alert from manipulators who are habitual to say ” Yes I know it, before you complete the sentence. And it creates chaos, mess and confusion that can not be repaired.
Dear Ajay,
Wow! You sure extended the conversation. Love it.
I believe in creating strategic confusion. I wrote about it last year: http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/2010/11/19/the-positive-power-of-confusion/
I think the situation determines which strategy is most appropriate and effective.
I’m thankful you brought this up. KaChing!
Best,
Dan
Ajay is a featured contributor on Leadership Freak. Read his bio at http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/ajay-gupta
Clarity is definitely very important.
A question occurred to me when reading and hence let me ask you Dan…
Is it always possible for a leader to be clear?
There are circumstances where a leader can be completely lost, even though he is a leader. How can he provide clarity when he is himself not clear?
Can followers sometime provide reverse clarity to their Leader?
Great question Sachin,
It took me years to find an answer to this one. I suggest going with your highest point of clarity.
If your highest point of clarity is insufficient, then your highest point of clarity is you need to seek more clarity. People understand and respect leaders who take time to pursue clarity.
What do you think?
Dan
Totally agree. If you need clarity(and you should) then ask people. One does not automatically become a discredited leader when you ask for assistance, from your followers.
Too many times Leaders get a god complex, and that is dangerous. One needs to admit problems, accept responsibility and step forward to find solutions. Solutions many times come from followers and there is nothing embarrassing about it.
Aim for clarity, even if clarity is shown by your followers.
Great post again, especially this sentence I loved the most “Confusion destroys influence.”
Thanks for the good word…cheers
When leaders change direction without explanation or warning it creates confusion. All workplace drama has three common components and one of those is a lack of clarity.
Thanks for jumping in Marlene! I couldn’t agree more. Confusion is an opportunity for everyone to go in separate directions and then try to convince others to follow them. Cheers
Clarity is in the ear of the hearer, so you don’t have it until you see comprehension in their eyes. To make it harder, most of the time, we don’t want to be clear. As we progress through our careers, we learn ambiguity as a defensive measure – we try to leave ourselves wiggle room in case things don’t go well, or the facts aren’t as we understand them. It’s very difficult to turn that off when speaking to team members. I used to have a boss who emphasized the use of “short, declarative sentences” as the best way to be clear. He felt that noun, active verb, and subject were all that were needed. It’s a great tool, surprisingly hard for leaders who were taught by example that many multi-syllabic words are better than terseness.
Greg, you are totally nailing man!
Love the “comprehension in the eyes” line. Sometimes I hate to wait for the light to come on. I’m too anxious.
Plus your comment re: ambiguity as a defensive measure is too true! Its a kick in the pants.
Thanks for all you add,
Dan
Greg is a featured contributor. If you click on his name you’ll go to his blog.
Sometimes I think we use words like fighter jets use chaff clouds — through enough out there and the incoming missiles lock onto something else and forget about us.
Great comments, Greg. My observation in the businesses that I work in that clarity is the biggest missing piece. I wonder if we don’t want to be clear because we are afraid of being authentic? Seems to me that clarity and authenticity go hand in hand.
I smiled when reading “short declarative sentences.” I had an executive I was coaching and we developed the term, “noun/verb” as a signal to get to the point!
Just think of all the time we’d have if we got to the point.
Best…Jim
I think very often leaders create confusion by forgetting that decision making is a process. If the team is not part of the decision making process then they are not going to understand the results. Simply by taking the team through the decision process and why the decision was made helps to clarify the reasons. It has an added benefit of sometimes making the team feel like a part of a process and increases buy-in on decisions.
Bonnie,
We are on a roll with great comments!
Giving clarity means including them in the process. Sweet.
I suppose the challenge is it’s slower and messy. But the benefits last.
Cheers,
Dan
How would you suggest is the best way to constructively move through confusion?
Break things down to component pieces – that’s a way of defining structure and also identifying where the confusion lies. Components can be planning, start, middle, end, or materials, equipment, environment, people, or maybe by department or process flow. It doesn’t really matter, but if you identify and set aside the parts that are clear, eventually you get to the point of confusion. It might be as basic as, “Do you understand what we’re going to do? Do you understand what you need to do? Do you understand who we’re doing it for? Do you understand why we’re doing it? Do you understand what we will do with the results of your work?”
Another technique the army uses to ensure understanding is brief-backs. Ask them to tell you what they understand the situation or requirement to be. Then you can clarify points of misunderstanding.
Transparency is the soul of clarity. It facilitates connection and understanding. It provides the entry way for healthy and productive dialogue. It rids us of the need to remember. It should be every leader’s goal to create a culture of openness and transparency. Opacity and cofusion can not thrive in the lucid world. Showing, being and acting who we are transforms environments into friendly, warm and trusting places. Reflect the truth and ease the burden of comprehension. Loyalty and engagement arise when relationships are rooted in transparency. 🙂
Great point about transparency, Al. Too much time gets spent wondering about motives, where a guy is coming from, what he’s after. That all definitely clouds the issue.
Love this post. Too often leaders make decisions (or have them made for them at a higher level) without understanding all the ramifications for their employees. Then they roll out these decisions with all fanfare & don’t have the answers the employees want & need. The best leaders admit they don’t have all the answers – they have a vision for where they want to go & then engage employees to help them get there.
Highly agree with the fact that confusion destroys the influence. While I was on an internship, once I was asked to do something, without proper guidelines. That dragged my entire morale down. I was rather feeling lazy to do what I was asked to do. I believe experiential learning is more important than what we learn as theories in universities and classes 🙂
What suggestions for creating clarity do you have?
I think one key for leaders in creating clarity is to make sure they have heard the question correctly (and I don’t just mean the content of the question). For example, “is it likely our program will receive funding next year?” is most likely also “How secure is my job? Do I need to start cleaning up my resume?”
What do leaders do that causes confusion?
Make arbitrary decisions without explaining the change in course to their followers (even if the explanation is “I can’t explain my reasoning right now”). Allow inaccurate information to proliferate without clarifying.
Great point, Paula. How often doesn’t our own lack of clarity get compounded among others when we act anyway? Even worse when we don’t realize that we don’t understand. Once again, listening is key.
Am remembering the line from A Few Good Men, “…are we clear? Crystal!”
And it is interesting how/when it is crystal clear to a leader that it is not, even with repetition, to those led. Assuming others see as you do may also be a vision challenge. Validates Greg’s observations.
Clarity of vision is a temporal state given the number of changes and issues that arise often overnight. Vision can be obscured, experience presbyopia (can’t see the trees for the forest—or the moonwalking bear), and of course leaders do experience blind spots. Knowing these vulnerabilities and their impact is an important leadership skill. An aligned vision is a magical state, hold fast, but not too tightly as it will shift. Continuously checking and realigned is vital.
Hi Doc. Our blind spots and shortcomings are a challenge for us all. Hopefully the “circle” includes folks that feel comfortable telling us about them. Both of these are moving targets as you suggest as well and re-assessment and re-appraisal is a daily endeavor. I just love the moon-walking bear although I did not see it the first time-big blind spot so now I make it a point to bring my safari gun! 🙂
When I first read this I thought to myself, “I think that every politician in the world should read this.” Then I found the discussion on strategic confusion and realized that politicians are about that…manipulators. Unfortunate, really.
I see ambiguity in the use of “the leadership decided”. It’s defensive because it fogs the chain of command. It throws those who want to appeal off the trail because they don’t know where to start.
What comes to mind are the “3 Little Whats” from Reuven Feurstein (Critical Thinking). This has been helpful to me to bring clarity:
What?
So what?
Now what?
So simple but so critical to clarity.
Hi Dan,
Short and sweet, and bang on. At our team leader meetings, we have started to add in a regular “leadership development” section to the agenda as we currently have quite a few newer, less experienced leaders and are also undergoing a major change in our line of business. I have been thinking about how to communicate this very message, something I guess I learned along the way, and probably the hard way, by making mistakes. I would love to use your post as an outline from which I would facilitate a discussion. I am also thinking about adding in a guide to using social media to learn as a leader, there is just so much great stuff out there! thanks again
I just found this by navigating away from the more recent post on 30 Secrets to Successful Leadership. The link is in the “bonus” of course.
Dan, you are a solution looking for a problem 😉
Clear thinking meant you are already half-way there….
Thank you
TG