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Season 3 Episode 4
Season 3 Episode 4: Clarity of Expectations
Practice of the Week: Be direct and concise about your expectations.
When we leave people guessing about what to do, we set them up for failure. Direct, concise communication is the best way to clarify expectations. Having a clear idea in your head, or down on paper, doesn’t help everyone else. Clarity must be communicated. We continue to feel like we live and lead in uncertain times. That’s not going to change. But as we work towards clarity, you’re going to help make things better wherever you are.
Notes
Clarity of expectations is achieved by focusing your message, repeating it over and over, and regularly reviewing progress. Let’s look at each of those:
- Focus your message - Clarity comes from focused thinking. You won’t achieve clarity if you stop at dreaming and brainstorming. We all need to create the time and space to focus our thinking.
- Repeat it over and over - Once you focus your thinking, you must keep talking about it. Repeat your purpose, outcomes, values, and expectations time and time and time again.
- Regularly review progress - To be clear about expectations: we must be checking in to review how we’re doing. This goes hand in hand with repeating expectations and what is important over and over again.
As you’re working on this, let me ask you:
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how clear are your expectations? What would be different if you scored a 9 or 10?
- Are you naturally concise and direct in your communication? What gets in your way?
- Is there one step: focusing, repeating or reviewing, that needs the most effort this week?
