One of the five domains in our team coaching model is ‘Clarity’.
It’s something we often hear right out of the gate when we undertake our initial diagnostic work with teams – the desire for more clarity.
This can sometimes feel frustrating. Especially if you are a leader that feels like you’ve done lots of work to provide direction and processes. And yet the call for more remains. Why is this and what can we do about it?
In periods of rapid change, ambiguity has a way of multiplying. Teams and leaders can become overwhelmed by competing priorities, shifting expectations and roles, and the balance between holding responsiveness with structure.
Amidst a sense of shifting ground, people search for more certainty for themselves, and for enough shared clarity.
Here are a few quick tips to help ground you and put your finger on the need:
- Check your own working style as a leader. If you tend toward a more ‘inspiration-driven’ work style (spontaneous, emergent), you might find yourself interpreting the need for more structure from others as rigidity. Watch out for how we can negatively interpret diverse needs. Ask yourself, ‘If this need was legitimate, what might I do to meet it enough?’
- Sometimes a game changing balm is greater shared clarity. Naming what is known and ambiguous together can be the reset that helps leaders navigate tricky times better. By increasing cohesion and balancing reality, it can offset some of the stress and pressure and boost confidence.
- As you cast your eye across your organisation, check that you’re assessing whether you’ve got the right level of clarity on the big ticket domains: Strategic Direction, Strategy Monitoring, Role Clarity, Team Purpose, Decision-making. If one of these has slipped enough, the sense of ambiguity will have knock on effects across the system.
And finally, remember that clarifying is not a one-time event. It’s an ongoing leadership practice.
If you’re hearing the plea for more clarity, it might be a sign the team needs some ‘on the balcony’ time: to cast your collective eyes across your systems, tools, and conversations to support everyone’s growth to keep pace with the complexity.
