You have a great new plan to expand your business, so you share your plan with your Leadership Team and off they go to implement it. Six months later your organization is in disarray and you can’t figure out what happened!
You shared your plan, asked if anyone had any questions, (which no one did) and told them to check back if they ran into any snags (which, again, no one did). What happened? Why didn’t they ask any questions or check in and see if they were on the right path?
It’s time to step back a minute and see how clear you really were and what is the culture of your organization. Very often what happens is that we explain something, and because we’ve been thinking about it for a while and we’ve turned it over and over in our mind and looked at it from every aspect we have an internal sense of clarity which we have a hard time sharing.
Or maybe we don’t go into all the details because we don’t want them to think that we under estimate their intelligence. We also tend to think others are more in tune with our thoughts, and they “should know what I’m talking about.”
And then depending on the corporate culture, possibly it isn’t safe to ask questions and pose alternate ideas, especially when those ideas come from the boss.
The next time you’re going to share something new, assume that what you said is ‘as clear as mud’ and spend the necessary time to clarify it and make ensure everyone has a clear understanding of what you want, how important it is, your expectations and also that you understand and have a similar clarity from their standpoint.
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Jane works with CEOs, Partners, Principals and Executives who are looking for Clarity, Focus and Release. My clients and colleagues call me a thought provoking Business Therapist. My focus is helping overwhelmed executives regain clarity, let go of ambiguity, uncertainty and fear, while bringing focus to their goals and objectives. I ask the hard questions knowing that you’re ready to answer them.
Jane is also the author of Put Your Big Girl Panties On and Kick Your Fears in the Ass.
Additional information is available at www.lovasconsulting.com. Contact Jane by email jlovas@lovasconsulting.com or by telephone at 703.594.6028.