Clarity Before Activity

Are you frustrated because, despite all the activity, you feel like you’re simply treading water rather than moving the rock forward?

Your team may be working hard and completing tasks, but effort alone does not create progress. Before people can move forward together, they must clearly understand where they are going.

Many years ago at West Point, I had to complete a land-navigation exercise in the dark.

It was disorienting for two reasons. I could not see any familiar landmarks, and although I had a compass and a map with points marked on it, I could not see where I was ultimately headed.

Each intermediate point was supposed to provide the direction to the next one. If I missed a point, I could not confidently determine where to go next. At times, I was probably close to an intermediate objective without even realizing it.

I did plenty of running around that night. I was working hard, but I was not working efficiently—and I was only marginally effective.

The problem was not my effort. The problem was that I could not envision the finish line. Without a clear sense of where I was or where I was headed, I lacked confidence in almost every step I took.

I eventually reached the objective, but it was much harder than it needed to be.

As leaders, we sometimes inadvertently place our team members in a similar situation.

We give them tasks without helping them see the full picture. We want them to be committed and independent, yet they may not clearly understand where we are going, why it matters, or how their work contributes to the destination.

Without that clarity, execution becomes unnecessarily difficult. People may work hard and stay busy, but they cannot fully commit themselves to an objective they do not understand.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

• Where is your team struggling to execute today?
• Have you clearly defined the destination?
• Do your people understand why it matters and how their work contributes to reaching it?
• You may have already told them—but saying it once is rarely enough.

CHALLENGE

Today, identify one important objective your team is struggling to execute. Clarify the destination, connect it to your mission and vision, and make sure every person understands why it matters.
We can always be clearer.