Seek & Provide Clarity
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Click here to view and download the Discussion Guide to utilize with your Group and/or Team over the next 12 months. The Guide and questions will be updated each month to reflect the TOTM concept.
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“…genuine teamwork in most organizations remains as elusive as it ever has been.”
Patrick Lencioni
The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team
I love clarity. Clarity is a gift we give others. Clarity can be painful and scary; however, clarity provides the proverbial answers to the test. I love clarity, although, I am more than guilty of not providing clarity. To be transparent, I don’t always love receiving clarity. Receiving clarity can be uncomfortable and perhaps even embarrassing, as it may reveal a personal bias, poor listening skills, inattention, or a lack of my own self-awareness.
I love clarity but I might not like giving and receiving clarity. However, I am convinced one of the greatest gifts a leader can give is the gift of clarity, and the willingness to foster an environment where others on their Team are willing and capable of also giving the gift of clarity.
Developing a Leadership Mindset means modeling the practice of seeking and providing clarity, which is the seventh tenet we will be exploring as 2022 continues to unfold. This new quarter, we will be referring to Patrick Lencioni’s 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, in which he examines in-depth how the lack of clarity on a Team leads to dysfunction number three, lack of commitment.
Mr. Lencioni identifies the 5 Dysfunctions of a Team as:
Absence of Trust (Status and Ego)
Fear of Conflict (Low Standards)
Lack of Commitment (Ambiguity)
Avoidance of Accountability (Artificial Harmony)
Inattention to Results (Invulnerability)
Ambiguity and the lack of clarity is the birthplace and breeding ground of lack of trust, lack of commitment, and lack of vulnerability which may result in significant individual, team, and organizational dysfunction. When we as leaders are not clear about our intent and expectations, we set others up for missing the mark and falling short of desired outcomes, if not complete failure. Low clarity equals low commitment levels which can lead to poor morale and results, thus genuine teamwork is as elusive as ever.
Undoubtedly, seeking and providing clarity requires valuable resources to ensure others receive the level of clarity they need and desire. Frankly, it can be exhausting to wade into the murky waters we call communication transactions or interactions. We tend to prefer stating our case, making a request, and efficiently and effectively receiving the results we desire from others.
A host of factors may impact clarity seeking effectiveness among teams and between individuals, including:
The culture of an organization – healthy or unhealthy
The effectiveness of the organizational disciplines and planning processes in place
Level of disclosure and transparency leaders demonstrate
Varying degrees of sufficiency of Team Members
Preferred communication styles of Team Members
Individual, team, and organizational levels of change readiness
Deference to title, power, position, or perceived level of authority within your organization
Highly self-sufficient leaders tend to project the level of their need for clarity, ability, or capacity consciously or unconsciously onto others – in my experience when clarity is not provided to the degree another person needs, it is usually due to under-awareness or unawareness, not a lack of caring. Similarly, it is vital for leaders to remember that they usually have 100% of the information and clarity 100% of the time. From that point, the level of clarity all “rolls downhill and diminishes” as it cascades throughout the organization to individual Team Members.
We have found the most effective clarity seeking mechanism Team Members use in the workplace are questions. Questions allow Team Members to seek information openly and honestly, obtain details, and understand the preferences of the leader for the purpose of doing their job more effectively. Tragically and inadvertently, leaders often shut down questions as they may perceive questions as:
A lack of trust in their leadership
A less than flattering view of the intellect of the leader
The leader’s inability to perform their role effectively
Negativity or pessimism
Opposition, defiance, or insubordination
When a Team Member seeks clarity in the absence of clearly provided information, processes, or desired outcomes, they are simply and usually motivated by a desire to do their job to the best of their ability. Questions may be a reflection of a Team Member’s perspective, need for detail, level of resourcefulness and problem-solving ability, change readiness and ability to grasp concepts and/or self-navigate.
No matter how much we wish we could, we as leaders do not get to decide how much clarity an individual needs from us or our organization to be able to do their job effectively. As measured by the Change Ready Profile found in Drs. Brandt and Kriegel’s book, Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers, the majority of Team Members have a significantly low tolerance for ambiguity. Keeping this in mind, we as leaders, must invite, foster, and encourage questions at every turn. When we respond with impatience, defensiveness, or poor listening skills, there is an immediate performance gap created. When we shut down questions, we essentially turn off the clarity faucet, impairing the flow of vital information and diminishing trust.
Patrick Lencioni, wrote another book, The Advantage, where he states, over-communicating clarity leads to organizational health. Leaders should spend the majority of their time, or at the very least as much time as others need from them, providing the vital and requisite levels of clarity as a critical function of their role. We can do this by ensuring there is an organizational discipline cadence that allows for giving and receiving feedback at the individual, team, and organizational levels, so that Team Members have consistent and frequent opportunities to seek and provide clarity.
Seeking and providing clarity also means using resourcefulness to build alliances, bridge gaps, and take initiative to create collaborative solutions to what may seem like an impossibility. When you approach others with a clarity seeking and curious mindset it can create an environment that draws others into the solution, fosters a sense of collaboration, demonstrates patience, and exemplifies leadership. It requires a leader to take psychological ownership of their role and responsibilities and to assume the mantel of providing clarity to the degree helpful to others.
As leadership icon Ken Blanchard states, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions!” Leaders have the opportunity to create environments where individuals feel safe and there is a high level of trust – people may need “permission” to seek clarity, and people may need to be coached to seek clarity. By coaching a Team Member’s behavior, both formally and informally, on a consistent basis we create the foundation for seeking and providing clarity by fostering an environment of trust and transparency – it creates the very discipline missing that creates a lack of clarity. We can and should encourage our Teams and Team Members to learn to take initiative and seek clarity whenever they need clarity or whenever the level of clarity provided does not adequately meet their needs.
When there seems to be no clarity, no solution, and no way out of a situation that moment is exactly when leadership is needed! Characteristics leaders can focus on developing and modeling are grace, humility, emotional maturity, caring, courage, and patience, along with the vital skills of planning, project management, communication, and delegation.
To ensure genuine teamwork exists and produce high performing teams that deliver results, leaders must have a relentless focus on being as kind to themselves and others as possible by:
Developing themselves by acquiring the characteristics and skills needed to provide clarity
Developing others by equipping them through coaching to learn to seek clarity consistently
3Creating and implementing organizational disciplines that ensure clarity is cascading effectively at the individual, team, and organization levels
As Brené Brown shares, “clear is kind.” Clarity is the gift that builds trust. Clarity provides the WHY. Clarity provides the HOW. Clarity sets and manages expectations. We encourage you to not wait for special occasions, anniversaries, or holidays to give the gift of clarity. Be kind to yourself and others.
-LS
Group Discussion
Guide
Click here to view and download the Discussion Guide to utilize with your Group and/or Team over the next 12 months. The Guide and questions will be updated each month.
Recommended Quarterly Reading
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
By Patrick Lencioni
2022
Managing From The Inside Out
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