Clarity empowers (AKA bring me a dog)

Are you being clear with your team? Getting the solutions you expect from them? Or are you having some irritating conversations?

Clarity of expectation is one of the most basic and important of employee needs. Setting clear direction and instructions are also one of the factors that set great leaders apart from average ones (Gallup 2018)

Bring me a dog

Earlier this year I was coaching a client in the finance industry. He was frustrated with the amount of questions, rework and duplication in his team. He said it was easier for him to do things himself rather than “explain things five times”.

We got talking and it was clear to me that his requests to others were vague. No wonder he wasn’t getting what he needed.

I delved deeper into his style of leadership. He was unspecific in his timelines and used general terms rather than specifics. He said he frequently “sends team members away to rethink things”.

So, I did what any decent coach would do. I asked him to bring me a dog.

Intrigued, he suggested some dog breeds I might want…"Pug….Spaniel….Staffy…Spoodle?"

“No…. No…. No….Keep trying” I said.

He quickly became frustrated and gave up. He couldn’t guess which dog to bring me because I had been unspecific, vague. I had made it hard for him to succeed intentionally. He disengaged because I was clear only on what I didn't want, not on what I needed.

Then I asked him a second time to bring me a dog. Only this time with clarity: medium size, white, black spots and rhymes with damnation.

He immediately responded…“Dalmatian!!!”

Reflect and respect

The impact of my first request on my client was deflating and frustrating. It made it hard for him to succeed. This is how his employees must have felt when dealing with his vagueness. The second request was clear, the response was efficient and engaging. It respected his time and mine.

My client later reflected on his “bring me a dog” style of delegation and how this was impacting his team and self. His style was creating needless obstacles and didn’t empower his team to deliver solutions because he was not clear.

Where are you on my Be Clear model when it comes to creating clarity for your team? Are you clear but just with yourself? Or is everyone on the team clear?

Think how you can better set up your team members to succeed by being clear. Are you empowering them with the right amount of information? Are you specific without being constricting in your requests? Too much or too little information can be restrictive and disengaging.

Not being clear can result in rework, inefficiency and disengagement. Like when an employee brought you a Doberman when what you really wanted was a poodle.

Clarity speeds up decisions, solutions and engages teams.