Clear is Kind

To be clear as a leader is to be kind to your team, and clarity is largely attributed to how well you communicate. When you define your expectations, align the team around specific objectives, describe what success looks like, and assign roles based on an individual’s strengths, you eliminate wasted effort and build trust within your team. Without a clear focus or aim, success becomes unlikely, but with it, teams rally around a shared purpose and move forward confidently.

Clarity and sincerity go hand-in-hand. As George Orwell once described, when a person’s real and stated aims do not align, they will attempt to hide that disparity with complex language and idioms. Not only can this be detrimental to the individuals on the receiving end of that communication, but it is also a lot for the communicator to keep up with. If you are honest and clear up front, you never have to keep track of what you have told people. When you want the best for your team, you will be clear about where the organization is at, where it is headed, and what the objectives are for closing that gap.

Providing clarity does not mean giving your team all of the answers or outlining every step of the process. In fact, you can be clear in your expectations and provide basic parameters for the team’s objectives while allowing them autonomy over the process. For example, you could give an individual a task to complete and define the metrics for what success looks like, but you can still give them control over how they approach the task. Should they need help, you can step in and offer guidance, but it is important that you do not do the work for them because this could create a bottleneck. 

As a leader, you can empower your team to perform at their best by defining what success looks like and articulating your expectations. When providing direction, try to minimize jargon and keep your communication clear so that everyone understands what needs to be done, by whom, by when, and with what measurable outcomes. After all, chaos creates confusion, but clarity creates confidence, and confident teams know where they’re headed.

-Meghan Slaughter