The Four Cs Mini-series: Clarity

This episode of How to Lead kicks off a short mini-series based on the four C's, my leadership engagement model from the book, how to Lead. The four C's in brief are clarity, challenge, control, and community.

And my belief is that if you want a team that's engaged, performing well and not quietly plotting the exit, then these four factors will make all the difference. In summary, clarity is about knowing what's expected and how you contribute.

Challenge is all about being stretched and stimulated to grow control, having some autonomy, but with the right level of support, and community feeling valued and part of something.

Today's focus is clarity. It's what we're going to be talking about today on how to lead the podcast for CEOs, founders, and leaders who want the perfect balance of empathy and authority. My name's Kate Waterfall Hill, and I'll be sharing some ideas from over 30 years of working in business and leadership development.

Before we get going, another quick reminder that my Leadership Accelerator Premium is now open. It's a 24-week program combining on demand video lessons, weekly group coaching, live workshops with me and expert guests. DISC profiling and Institute of Leadership Certification all within a supportive community of leaders like you.

Places are limited. So do book now for yourself or for your team members. Find out more at www.waterfallhill.co.uk.

So let's start with how Linda handles clarity.

“I don't understand it. Even the high performers like Jason are starting to ask for more clarity all the time. Drives me mad. Honestly. I have to explain everything. They're asking me to be clear on my expectations, tell them the why and the where, and the when and the what and all that sort of stuff. Give them a proper brief.

Apparently I've then got to leave them to work out the how. Well that's the fun of managing, isn't it? Micromanaging, taking all the joy out of it. It completely defeats the purpose of having a team to delegate things to, I might, I might as well do it myself. I mean, admittedly, I won't do it very well, but at least I know where I stand.”

Not completely unexpected, but Linda was more foggy than clear. her style often leaves people nodding and smiling while quietly panicking inside.

So let's talk about why clarity is such an important aspect of being a great leader. It's one of those things we assume we're giving people, but we often don't check, and it's absolutely foundational. If someone doesn't understand the goal, the plan, or their role in it, they'll either go in the wrong direction, sit and wait for more instruction, or worse still nod, smile, and quietly disengage.

Lack of clarity often causes confusion, frustration work, having to be redone, tension between teams, and eventually a complete lack of ownership. But it's often invisible. People don't tell you that they're confused. They just start underperforming, and you are left wondering why.

So what do people actually need clarity about? What am I going on about here? It's not just about job descriptions or having a goal on a piece of paper. Your team needs clarity on a number of different things. First of all, at the very top level, the organization's overall vision. What is the bigger picture that we're trying to achieve?

Where are we heading together? Secondly, the team's shared goal. So, the team that they're in, how are they working towards that overall organisational vision together? And then what's their individual role? So why does my job matter? And how does it contribute to the shared goal of the team, but ultimately the organization's overall vision and what is expected of them on a day-to-day basis? What does good look like? What are your desired outcomes? And then lastly, how might they progress? Where am I heading in the organisation? If even one of these is murky, people tend to lose momentum.

So often leaders say to me, but I, I think I've already told them, haven't I? Well, yep, it's the classic, but I told them this at the strategy day last quarter. And somehow it doesn't seem to have given people the clarity that you think it should have. Saying something once doesn't create clarity.

Most people are juggling dozens of priorities and hearing your strategic vision once during a half hour zoom meeting in January doesn't mean they're living and breathing it here in May. You need to repeat it often clearly in different formats, and check that they've really properly understood it in the way that you meant it.

You can have reasonably regular conversations asking questions like, can you tell me how your work connects to the team's goal? Or, how confident are you that you know what good looks like in your role right now? Those answers are absolutely gold. They'll tell you everything.

I talk about communicating quite a lot. It's such a key leadership skill, but communicating with clarity is the key thing. Saying something without being clear is worse than nothing at all. So clear communication is absolutely a leadership superpower. It's not about being fancy and using long, convoluted words that are actually just corporate jargon.

It's about saying things that are understandable and mean something to the other person. So in short. Please do ditch the jargon. Saying things like we're leveraging synergies to optimise the client journey. Just tells people nothing other than the fact that you might be a little bit like Linda, the bad manager.

Be specific. You know, I need this by the end of the week is clearer than, yeah. If you could get it back to me ASAP. Sometimes when you communicate it verbally, it's a good idea to follow up in writing or even send it in writing first, and then follow it up in person. Ask the person what they'd like, what makes it clear for them.

Sometimes as well, it might be worth delegating the writing it up afterwards. So you delegate verbally and then you say to the person, can you write up what you think the brief is and I'll check it. So that's a good way of, you know, not doubling up the work for yourself. But it checks understanding. And then at the end of your conversation, don't just say, everyone got that.

It's all okay. It's actually checking understanding properly, so you know, what's your takeaway from all this? It's better than, does that make sense? So many people say that at the end of everything and everyone just nods along. Please do avoid vague phrases like Be more strategic.

I had another podcast episode about that. And show more initiative unless you can explain what it looks like in practice, it's just empty. Clarity and delegation is absolutely essential. I talked about that in the delegation episode of How to Lead, but just to reiterate, you know, it's so, so important that people know what success looks like, why the task matters, what the deadline is.

Maybe have a conversation about that, what constraints they need to work within, and who they can come to for help, what support they can get from you, and what might that look like. and importantly if you can let them shape the how, so it really builds ownership, enabling the other person to decide on the step by steps that they're going to take to get you to the outcome. That's what you're looking for. Unless, of course, there's a process that they need to follow for consistency or legislation reasons. But again, if you're vague upfront, you can't be surprised when the output doesn't match your expectations.

You're not clear on the expectations. how is the person going to meet them?

And then there's this thing called purpose. one of the most powerful ways to create clarity is by connecting individual roles to the wider purpose. You know that NASA story you might have heard me talk about it before. I'm not entirely sure if it's a true one or if it's apocryphal, but I like it anyway.

That janitor didn't say he was sweeping the floor when JFK asked him what he was doing. He said he was helping put a man on the moon. You know when people can see how their work matters, they become more motivated, more resilient, and more committed. They understand the why behind the what, and you don't have to be doing something noble, you know, curing a disease or saving the planet.

Even a paperclip manufacturer has purpose. Maybe it's helping small businesses run more smoothly. Find that purpose, share it and use it often, talk about it all the time.

Let's look at some of the ways that clarity gets unintentionally mudded. First of all, mixed messages from different leaders. One manager says, do it this way. Another says, no, do that instead. That's where you get confusion, frustration, and sometimes finger pointing. I'd encourage you to fix that by aligning your leadership team behind shared language and priorities, making sure everyone agrees what the priorities are, and please don't tell me everything's a priority because it can't be.

Then there's the tendency to over rely on unwritten rules. If people have to figure it out as they go or rely on second-hand knowledge, they will make assumptions and those assumptions are often wrong. So fix that by spelling things out clearly. Even the things that you think should be obvious. Don't leave people to fill in the blanks.

You set a goal, but then don't explain the rationale, the timeline, or how success will be measured. So people then fill the gaps with guesswork and fix that by painting the full picture. Help 'em see why it matters, or maybe even paint that picture together in discussion.

And then as I said before, if everything's a priority, nothing is. If your team is drowning in competing goals and no one can tell what's important, then clarity just evaporates. So fix it by choosing what matters most and being explicit about it. Don't forget, if you say all a hundred things are number one priority, they are also the least priority at the same time.

Here are some ways to put clarity into action in practice with your team. First of all, vision reminders. Start each team meeting with a one minute recap of the vision or goal. Why are we all here? What are we doing? Where are we pushing towards? What's our common purpose?

Then check for alignment. You know, actually ask your team members to explain in their own words what they're focusing on, and importantly, why. Have a role. Refresh every now and then sit down with each person, talk through what success in their role looks like now, not what it was maybe 18 months ago when you first wrote their job description with them.

You could also list behaviours, put some sort of expectation grid together, so the behaviours that you want to see, the behaviours that won't fly. This makes feedback easier too. People know where they stand and what's acceptable and what isn't. Also create how we Work documents. These cover expectations around communication, working hours, decision making, and accountability.

You can also borrow some great questions from the coaching world and ask reflected questions like this. What's your understanding of what needs to happen next? What's the outcome you are aiming for, and how will you know when it's done? Well.

Clarity isn't about creating a perfect instruction manual. It's about shared understanding, and there's an emotional side of clarity. You know what clarity feels like is really important too, because when people have clarity, they feel grounded, they feel secure, they're focused and they feel empowered to make decisions.

Importantly, they're also more likely to speak up when things go wrong.

Conversely, without clarity, people often feel anxious, scattered, maybe a bit defensive, certainly overwhelmed because they're not quite sure what's going on, and unsure whether they're doing a good job. Even if they are. That's the irony. So this emotional piece really does matter because it directly affects performance.

A vague instruction might seem small to you, but to someone else, it can trigger a spiral of doubt, hesitation, and having to do the work again.

So what do I suggest you do next? If you're wondering whether your team has the clarity they need, maybe you could try this. Audit your communications. Are they clear, consistent, and focused, or are they reactive, rushed, and full of corporate fluff? Ask your team. Have a few honest conversations and ask what feels unclear right now?

Where do you feel unsure about your priorities? Is there anything that you're guessing at that I could make easier? And then make clarity a habit. Don't wait for confusion to surface before you do something. Build clarity into how you work, how you lead, and how you show up.

So let's wrap up with a quick recap. Clarity means more than just giving instructions. It's about creating shared understanding around the vision. The goals, people's roles, your expectations, and their progression.

It helps people feel confident, connected, and capable. So next time someone's underperforming, ask yourself this. Is this a motivation issue or capability issue? Or actually is something unclear? Often the fix isn't inspiration, it's information.

That's all for today's episode of How to Lead. Until next time, keep leading with Clarity, care, and curiosity.

Don't forget, this was part one in a miniseries of the four C's, and next week I'll be talking about challenge, being stretched and stimulated to grow. Join me next time for more information on that. In the meantime, if you've enjoyed this episode, do follow for more leadership insights and remember.

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The best leaders are clear on their vision, care about their people, and approach interactions with curiosity, not judgment. Until next time, thanks for listening.