Robin was excited when she started the job. She saw it as joining a company, not just taking a job. She liked the company’s products and what they stood for. And while her onboarding wasn’t perfect, she persisted, worked hard and tried to focus on being successful. As time went on, she became disillusioned. The excitement she found was overshadowed by uncertainty and a complete lack of organizational clarity. She wasn’t clear on direction from the top, wasn’t clear about strategies, goals, or even, perhaps most importantly, what was expected of her. Ultimately, the lack of organizational clarity led her to leave, looking for a clearer role and a clearer path.
Robin’s story could be the story of people in your organization. The costs of corporate uncertainty and a lack of organizational clarity don’t end with turnover; that is just the start. When people aren’t clear about the strategies, approaches, and their expectations you will get…
- More conflict – both across departments and within teams
- More dissatisfaction
- More confusion
- Less engagement
- Less goal achievement
- Less excitement for the work
- Lover productivity
- Mismatched priorities
I don’t think I need to go on.
The point is if we get clearer on… anything, things get easier and better. The more things we get clarity on, the more progress teams and organizations can make. Here are some things organizations as a whole and leadership teams can do.
Share the Big Picture
While this isn’t the only answer, it must be the first answer. When people understand the big picture of the organizations’ goals, strategies, and values, it is easier to create clarity on everything else. Make sure the big picture is clear to everyone. Remember that just because it is clear to you, doesn’t mean it is clear to them, yet. Repetition is an important tool here.
Connect the Dots
As an outsider, often with access to both the C-suite and the rank and file in the organization, I have seen this problem over and over. People in the organization see every new initiative as something new, unique and distinct. Each new thing feels like a change in focus and direction. In truth, senior leaders usually (not always) are piecing together an overall plan. And this new project is completely connected to other things that are happening. While that seems obvious to those leaders (who discussed and put those plans together), the further down in the organization you go, the less connected things seem. One of the most important and powerful things you can do to create better organizational clarity is to connect the dots across initiatives and projects, so people see how they fit together.
Create Feedback Loops
Regardless of how clear and well expressed the messages of senior leadership are, communication clarity can’t be achieved unless you can be assured that the messages that were sent were accurately received. That’s why you must create feedback loops to see if:
- People do understand
- People have other ideas and input
Feedback loops, both formal and informal, are needed to ensure message clarity and to create chances for correction if the messages weren’t understood.
Far too little time or attention is spent on creating these loops and making it easy and safe for people to share their concerns and worries as well as their confusion.
Limit the Amount of Messaging
In terms of creating organizational clarity, less is more. Sharing too many ideas doesn’t aid clarity, it reduces it. Just like there are only so many things you will notice when looking at a picture, there are only so many things anyone (and any organization) can focus on.
If you have so many projects that you can’t count or remember them, how do you expect everyone else in the organization to? And how can you (or they) determine which is the most important and the highest and best use of their time? All time spent figuring that out (i.e. guessing) is time lost and breeds further uncertainty and reduces confidence and momentum.
Robin moved to a new organization, a little less excited, but wanting to contribute. As she began working, she experienced something very different than before. She had a clear sense of what the work of the organization was and who they served. She was clear about what as expected of her. All of this engaged her and motivated her. Over time this clarity helped her stay focused and engaged, and it showed in her results. She and the teams she worked on achieved more, and she was promoted. She vowed she would always do her best to be a clarity creator for others, because it helps her so much.
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